Lighting in The Hidden Leaf
by DemonSessama
Summary: The Chūnin Exams are heating up in the Hidden Leaf but when the mysterious Ami is placed on Team 7 and with a sinister plot brewing in the shadows, Team 7 are going to have to over come their greatest obstacles and trust their new teammate to stop the destruction of their home and their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus (her name is pronounced A-me). Also she is not the bully from Ino and Sakura's past, she's completely different. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one **

**Also the whole Naruto stories will be split into different stories which are connected to the different arcs, this story combines the Chūnin Exams and the Invasion of Konoha arcs. **

Chapter 1: - A New Chapter Begins

My foot landed on the branch for a split second before I pushed off again, leaping from branch to branch in the hopes of reaching my destination soon. The sun glared down on the land boiling anything that was caught in its' blinding rays, the clouds and shadows only gave little protection from the heat.

I look out from underneath the straw hat I wore, I saw the towering walls of the village entering my sight. I jumped down from the trees landing with silence. I darted moving faster than many could track, my steps kicking up small clouds of dust. I approached the entrance to the village and I began to form hand signs before reaching my chakra out to affects the guards at the gates.

I knew the barrier would sense my presence but I didn't need the guards to know about it, I had to get in quietly. Once I ran past the guards and hopped onto a building away from them I released the Genjutsu, giving back their sight. Adjusting my hat so that a shadow was cast over my face, I glanced down at the village. Citizens and ninjas walked about chatting with their friends or just being by themselves.

This place was different to any other place I had been no mountains or rocks completely covered this place and no sand swirled around in an endless storm. Looking up I spotted a large spherical red building near a mountain with four faces carved into it. At the front of the building was the kanji for fire, recognising my designation I started towards it.

Hearing a commotion I dropped onto a branch that was shaded by the leaves of the tree, I looked out to seem what was happening. Before me were a group of people, two boys and two girl who were roughly in my age group and two other boys and another girl all three were young children. One of the older boys wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wore a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and his forehead protector on his forehead, engraved on his protector was a small rectangle and a gourd beneath it. He also had triangular face paint design, and he wore gloves and had a strange large wrapped object with a brown mass of spikey material at the top, on his back.

This boy held one of the younger boys by the blue scarf that he wore. The young boy had short spiky brown hair and black eyes he also wore a yellow shirt with a swirled leaf symbol in red, grey shorts, and a pair of goggles on his head.

"We've got a few minutes before he gets here let's mess with these punks for a bit," The one in the baggy suit suggested. A smirk rested on his face as the child he held continued to struggle in his grasp.

"Let go of me you jerk," The child cried out as he swung his legs out. But nothing came of his actions, expect annoying the boy holding him.

"You're feisty but not for long," The boy said as he tightened his grip on the child's scarf. This caused the young boy even more pain.

"Put him down!" A male voice rang out in anger. I snapped my eyes in its' direction seeing the other boy who was around my age. He had blue eyes and blonde, spiky hair, along with three whiskers marks adorning each of his cheeks. He wore an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl crest on the back, a large white collar, orange pants with a shuriken holster attached to his right knee, blue ninja sandals, and a blue forehead protector with the same swirl leaf symbol as on the younger boys shirt.

The blonde boy ran towards him, anger seeped off on him in waves. However the boy didn't get very far because he somehow fell backwards even though nothing had pushed him. I stayed extremely still not wanting to attracted any attention to me, but my body was already tense as I prepared to stop this at any point.

"What the… what was that?" The blonde boy exclaimed in shock. His eyes stared at the other boy who simply smirked.

"You're a Leaf Genin too. Looks like your village is full of wimps," The other boy said a smirk rested on his painted face. The blonde boy and the other two children called out Konohamaru obviously being the younger boy's name. The young boy was in pain that much I could tell. I remained still not even blinking as I watched the scene. Disgust towards the other boy growing at his cruel actions.

"That's it drop him now or I'll take you apart fool," The blonde cried out. I stared at him in amazement, an unknown opponent that had already somehow taken him down and this boy was still challenging him. Either he was stupid, brave or both.

"You're the fool! Making threats isn't going to help Naruto," A feminine voice said, annoyance coursing through her tone. I watched as a girl with bright pink hair and soft green eyes held the blonde boy in a head lock. I blinked in shock and maybe slight fear at the pinkette's temper.

"You're annoying, all of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth. I just want to break him in half," The other boy said. Shocked expressions crossed the blonde and pinkette's faces whilst the children sobbed in fear. I made a final decision and reach up into the tree easily plucking off a leaf with almost no noise to ensure that no one turned their attention towards me.

"Fine. I'm not involved in any of this ok," The girl with the face paint guy spoke up annoyance lacing her voice. She had teal eyes and blonde hair, which was gathered into four ponytails. She wore a single light purple-coloured, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wore her black forehead protector around her neck it had the same symbol as the face paint boy, a rectangle and gourd symbol.

"First I'll take care of this little squirt them I'll waste the other one," The boy said as he reared his arm back reach to punch the young boy. I sent my chakra surging into the leaf causing it to straighten and harden. I then threw the leaf however at the same time the blonde boy charged forward and something else hit the face paint boy's wrist along with the leaf causing him to release Konohamaru.

I looked down to see a rock led on the floor, confusion swirled through me as I glanced up in the direction the rock had some from. In the shade of the tree opposite me, sat a boy of my age. He was a fair-skinned ninja with onyx eyes and black chin-length hair, his hair was spiky in the back with bangs framing his face. He wore a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and white arm warmers along with white shorts and blue sandals, he also wore a head band with the swirl leaf on it.

"You're a long way from home and your way out of your league," The boy said as he tossed a rock up and down. I intrigued by this boy, he was calm, confident and he was handsome but his eyes held such a lonely essence and that was what intrigued me. His eyes glanced into the tree and they seemed to stare right at me, I made no movements as his eyes swept back down to the group below us.

"Sasuke-kun!" The pinkette cried out, joy partially drenched the name. I rolled my eyes it was obvious that this boy was the object of her affections.

"Oh great another wimp to tick me off," The face paint boy complained. Sasuke stopped throwing the rock and then crushed it in his hand.

"Get lost!" Sasuke ordered the two foreign ninja "And whoever is in the tree come out and show yourself," Sasuke added as he stared at where I sat. I smirked but remained still, as if I would actually move because of some handsome boy ordering me about.

"Hey punk get down here. You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up," The face paint boy said. He pulled on the wrapped object removing it from his back.

"What are you going to use the Crow for this?" The blonde girl asked in shock. But it didn't seem to deter the boy who just stared at Sasuke.

"Kankurō back off," A dead, emotionless voice said. My head snapped in the direction it came from. There standing upside down on the branch on the other side of the trunk from Sasuke was another boy of my age. He had fair skin and short, spiky, red hair and pale blue-green eyes. He had no distinctive pupils or eyebrows but he did have two very notable traits in his appearance. He had tanuki-like black eye rings, and he had the kanji for love on the left side of his forehead. His forelocks were parted from the left side, making the kanji more visible. He wore a black full body suit with t-shirt-like sleeves, ¾-length legs, and an open neck. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band over the left shoulder and right side of his hips. With this leather band, he carried around a large gourd, he also wrapped his black forehead protector over the band

"You're an embarrassment to our village," The new boy stated. Everyone seemed shocked that he had appeared like that. I noticed that the face paint boy had a slightly frightened expression on his face.

"Hey Gaara," Kankurō greeted, a slightly nervous and tense note was present in his voice. Everything was tense after the boy's appearance, not one person dared to make a move.

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Gaara questioned Kankurō, shattering the silence. He seemed annoyed at the older boy's actions. I raised an eyebrow at Gaara's statement it seemed… suspicious.

"Yeah I know… I mean they challenged us, they started the whole thing really. See here's what happened-," Kankurō stumbled as he tried to explain himself his nervousness getting the best of him.

"Shut up! Or I'll kill you" Gaara commanded Kankurō, his voice never raised and his tone never changed from that dead emotionless tone. It was an eerie tone, as if he had never known any joy in this world.

"Right. I was totally out of line. I'm… I'm sorry Gaara, I was totally out of line," Kankurō apologised, but his nervousness never faded from his voice.

"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused," Gaara told Sasuke. Then he shifted into wisps of sand which flowed to where Kankurō and the blonde girl stood before shifting back into him. "Let's go we didn't come here to play games," Gaara said, but his tone left no room for argument as Kankurō quickly agreed.

"Hold on! Hey!" The pinkette called out as she ran forward allowing me to get a better look at her. She wore a red qipao dress with white circular designs, no sleeves, and a zipper, under that were dark green shorts. She also wore standard blue ninja sandals, and a forehead protector which she used to accentuate her face.

"What!" The blonde girl demanded an answer, annoyance laced her voice. The foreign shinobi had stop walking but they didn't turn around.

"I can tell from your headband that you come from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Of course the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So state your purpose and it better be good," The pinkette demanded. I rolled my eyes at her attitude, being as she came off as rather rude and nosey.

'They wouldn't be in if they didn't have a reason.' I thought annoyed at the girl's obvious naivety.

"Really. Have you guys all been living under a rock or what? You don't know what's going on do you?" The blonde girl asked in a patronising tone. She then held up a piece of paper with her picture on it and some information written as well "We have permission. Of course you're correct we are Hidden Sand Genin, our home is the Land of the Wind. And we're here for the Chūnin Exams. Get the picture?" The girl stated continuing in her insulting tone.

"The Chūnin Exams. What's that?" The blonde boy – I believe he was called Naruto – asked a confused expression on his face. "Well I've never heard of any Chūnin Exams. Believe it," Naruto stated still confused.

"Oh I believe it alright. That you're totally clueless," The blonde girl insulted Naruto. Konohamaru quickly explained that the Chūnin Exams were special exams that every Genin had to take in order to advance to Chūnin level. Naruto excitedly exclaimed he was going to take them. I cocked my head to the side this boy was… unique. That was the only possible word that could describe him. The Sand shinobi continued to walk on but Sasuke jumped down from the tree.

"Hey you identify yourself!" Sasuke called out to the three which caused the blonde to stop.

"You mean me?" She asked, a giddy tone underlined her words and she had a smile on her face. I shook my head at her infatuation.

"No, him. The guy with the gourd on his back," Sasuke clarified whilst pointing at Gaara. This caused the other two shinobi to stop and turn around.

"My name is Gaara of the Desert. I'm curious about you too. Who are you?" Gaara asked. But his expression and tone never changed despite his admission of interested.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke answered. At his surname I felt a chill run up and down my spine. Standing to my feet I decided it was time to go, a breeze ran through the area.

"I need to see the Hokage," I stated. Everyone whipped their heads in my direction but I ignored them and instead I jumped from the tree I was in to the other tree and then jumped again before anyone could see me. I raced over the rooftops of the village heading to the building. As I got closer to it I jumped down to the street level and walked to entrance, two shinobi blocked my path.

"I must see Hokage-sama it is urgent," I told them. They looked at each other uncertainty shone in their eyes. Then one of them motioned for me to follow him and I did. Along the way he explained I would have to wait as the Hokage was in a meeting.

Much time passed as I waited in the Hokage's office with the Shinobi that had escorted me when the Hokage finally arrived. He was a rather elderly man with light skin and he was of below-average stature with grey spiked hair and a small goatee. He had pronounced cheekbones, a few wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, and a few liver-spots. He wore the official uniform of a Kage which consisted of the customary hat and haori, along with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash. He looked at us but didn't seem shocked to see either of us there.

"I was told I had a visitor. You may go now," The Hokage said, waving his hand. The shinobi left and the Hokage sat down at the desk "Tell me who are you and why have you come here?" The Hokage asked. He lit a pipe and stuck it in his mouth but his eyes never wavered from my form. I removed the straw hat from my head allowing him to clearly see me

"My name is Ami. I'm a nomadic ninja who has no ties to any village. However I am being hunted down for my unique fighting style," I told the Hokage. He nodded but waited for me to continue "I came here seeking protection from these people. Please accept me," I asked the Hokage. I bowed to him as a sign of respect.

"If you are truly in danger I cannot turn my back on you. I will allow you to stay here for now," The Hokage answered. I looked at him and let out a breath I was holding, relieved that he would let me stay. "You claim to be a ninja yes," The Hokage questioned. I nodded confused as to why he would ask that.

"Well then I'll assign you to one of the Genin teams temporarily for now as assessment and after the Chūnin Exams we'll put you on a permanent squad once your skills have been evaluated," The Hokage informed me.

"Hokage-sama you don't have to do that really," I said flustered that he would do something like that.

"It's quite alright Ami. After all you'll need to be protected if you leave the village," The Hokage answered refusing to back down. "Now here is your forehead protector and you'll be assigned to Squad 7 under Kakashi Hatake," The Hokage stated. I froze at the name, Kakashi Hatake was one of the most feared, respected and admired ninja in the entire world to be trained by him was… unthinkable.

"Now I'll send some papers down to sort out ninja registration, housing and funds for you, so go and wait down on the ground floor and good luck in the exams," The Hokage stated. I bowed to him and left the room.

_***Naruto* **_

I let out a puff of smoke as the strange young girl left my office. Whoever she really was, was a mystery. I began to rifle through the paper work when Kakashi appeared.

"So you're assigning that girl to my team?" Kakashi asked confusion evident. I knew he might not understand my motivation but it was necessary.

"That girl is hiding something. I don't know if it is linked to her pursuers or if she's an enemy spy. We'll have to be prepared Kakashi, you'll be able to see if anything is wrong during her time with your team and during the Chūnin Exams," I explained to the silver haired Jōnin.

"Understood Hokage. I just hope it isn't a lie she seems like a genuinely nice girl," Kakashi admitted, before he disappeared. I hoped the same thing as Kakashi, I didn't want any more blood spilt but I had to protect the village even if the danger came from that unassuming girl.

_***Naruto* **_

Myself, Naruto and Sakura were standing on a bridge that over looked one of the rivers that ran through the village. We're waiting for Kakashi-sensei to arrive and as usually he was late. But I could focus all I could think about was what happened two days ago, the only person I didn't see was that figure that jumped from the other tree. But I knew that person was strong they had charged a leaf with enough chakra to slice into the wood of the fence.

"Ah! Why, why, why is it always the same? He sets the time and then we have to wait hours for him," Sakura finally snapped as she yelled out. I wanted to roll my eyes at her stupid question.

"It's not fair," Naruto yelled out. I wanted to cover my ears to block out their annoying cries. But if that happened then the loser would just bug me about it later.

"What about my feelings? I rushed here so fast I didn't have time to blow dry my hair," Sakura ranted. I mentally sighed at that, why couldn't she focus on her training. All the girls were the same, all they cared about was their appearance. For once I wish I could meet a girl that actually liked to train and wouldn't fawn over me.

"And I didn't have enough time to brush my teeth and change my underwear," Naruto cried out. I wanted to slap the idiot for saying that, if only because it wasn't need.

"You didn't? That's really disgusting Naruto," Sakura informed the blonde idiot.

'First thing in the morning and they're already driving me nuts.' I thought in annoyance at my pathetic teammates. Then the sound of transporting came and I glanced up to see Kakashi had arrived.

"Hey good morning everyone. Sorry I'm later I had to pick up your new teammate," Kakashi greeted. At his statement I whipped my head in his direction, normally all his excuses were about bad luck, get lost or helping old ladies but never something like this.

"YOU LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura cried out. I went to stand with them still confused.

"Is it always like this?" A voice rang out from somewhere near Kakashi. I could tell it was female and it sound vaguely familiar.

"Yes it is," Kakashi admitted and then he jumped down. When he landed he stepped aside to reveal a girl behind him. "As you guys can see I wasn't lying. This is your new teammate Ami," Kakashi introduced.

The girl was about our age with porcelain white skin, long raven black hair which was tied in a braid, with a white ribbon weaving through it and wide cerulean blue eyes, her forehead protector was wrapped around her forehead. It looked like if you touched her too hard she would crack into a thousand pieces. She wore a light blue, circle necked, ¾ sleeved t-shirt over a fishnet undershirt. She had black jeans which clung to her legs, on her right leg was her shuriken holster and she wore standard black ninja sandals.

"Hey you three are the ones from yesterday," She said. I blinked in shock this girl must have been the one in the tree but if she was she couldn't be that strong… could she.

"Wait a minute were you the one in the tree?" Sakura demanded as she walked to the girl. Ami simply nodded her head.

"So you've already meet," Kakashi stated as he looked between us. He seemed relieved that he didn't have to introduce us.

"Not really I only know two of their names," Ami stated. Kakashi signed and told us to introduce ourselves.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to become the next Hokage. Believe it!" Naruto declared. But instead of saying something of disbelief or not acknowledging it, like normal… she giggled.

"I do. You have great potential within you," Ami said a small smile rested on her face. All of us remained stock still at the girl's statement probably not believing her. Naruto looked flustered and was speechless… for once.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," Sakura greeted in a polite manner. Ami nodded her head in greeting before turning towards me.

"Sasuke Uchiha," I said dismissively not wanting to be bothered by this girl.

"Alright Ami now I want you to introduce yourself, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams of the future," Kakashi told the girl. I sighed mentally not wanting to here this girl's statement which was probably just like the rest of the girls.

"Well I'm Ami and I don't have a surname considering I don't know my family," Ami started off. But her comment drew my attention. I had noted that despite having a peaceful expression, her eyes seemed cold and distant as if she was somewhere far away.

"I like training, reading, learning new Justus and techniques and thunderstorms, I dislikes a certain person, my hobbies are training, reading, meeting new people and being out in thunderstorm or looking at the moon. My dream… I don't have one," Ami finished off. All of us stared at the strange girl as if we were unsure whether she was real or not.

"Well you're defiantly unique Ami and welcome to our squad," Kakashi spoke up, breaking the tense silence that developed. "Anyway I know this is a bit sudden but I recommended you for the Chūnin Exams all three of you and Ami you've also been recommended by the Hokage. These are the application forms," Kakashi explained and held out four piece of paper.

"Application forms?" Sakura asked in confusion. I noticed Ami roll her eyes as if she couldn't understand what Sakura didn't get about the application forms.

"You're repeating me Sakura. This is all voluntary, it's up to each of you if you don't feel ready you can wait until next year," Kakashi explained.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei you rock," Naruto cried out as he leapt forward hugging Kakashi causing them to spin around. I sighed at the idiots antics.

"Hey, hey don't slobber on my vest," Kakashi complained as Naruto finally let go of him. "Whoever wants to take the exams sign the application and come to room 301 at the academy. It's at 3 pm five days from now. That's it," Kakashi explained as Naruto eagerly took one. We all accepted one and then Kakashi left.

_***Naruto* **_

I walked along the road with my new teammates, I could tell they were all different, especially Naruto. There was something about the blonde that I seemed to… understand.

"Hum Chūnin Exams. I'll be up against a lot of really wicked ninja," Naruto exclaimed as he stared at his form. I could see that he was hyperactive and he seemed to be full of confidence. I noticed that Naruto was glaring at Sasuke which the Uchiha returned.

'Please tell me this rivalry won't kill the team?' I asked kami hoping he would hear me. The two boys seemed determined but I noticed that Sakura didn't share their enthusiasm. I wondered if she doubted her own abilities.

"Sakura-san if you're worried don't be," I told the pinkette who looked at me "You simply have to find your strengths and build on those whilst making sure that your weaknesses aren't detrimental," I advised the Kunoichi. Sakura blinked for a moment before nodding her head.

"Thanks Ami," Sakura admitted as she walked on to catch up with the boys who can left us behind. I speed up to meet with them before we went our separate ways with five days left we had enough time to get to know each other.

_***Naruto***_

The next day, I headed to the training field hoping to get in some practice. I arrived to find the area deserted of all life except for plants. Tall trees stemmed up to the clouds making the canopies extend quiet far. Small rocks and boulders were scattered about whilst where were three stumps in front of me which were used for training.

"Alright. Time to begin," I told myself, pulling out a scroll I lay it on the floor and opened it up. I bit my thumb drawing blood and drew a line in the centre of a summoning circle before closing it back up. Tossing the scroll into the air I performed the hand signs for Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey and Ram, before managing to catch the scroll in between my outstretch fingers. "Summoning: Black Katana," I cried as I slammed the scroll to the ground. In a puff of smoke a katana appeared, it was 7 feet long, the blade was pure black and it had a round pommel. I picked the blade up and began to practice my kenjutsu.

Some time passed and I moved on to practicing with my kunai and shuriken when a twig snapped behind me. I tightened my grip on the kunai in my hand and tensed the muscles in my legs.

"Little girls shouldn't be out here on their own," A raspy male voice said behind me. I turned to see a shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village.

"And old men shouldn't challenge people they'll lose to," I told him. He charged forward. But as he closed in I kicked him in the stomach which sent him backwards. I quickly took the kunai and ran towards the man, I slammed into his legs with a roundhouse kick which knocked him down before I placed my kunai to his throat.

"Leave this village because the next time I see you I won't hold back," I told the ninja. To demonstrate my point and threw the kunai over my shoulder and it landed dead centre of the target. The ninja looked at me wide eyed before disappearing the minute I let him go.

"Smart man," I mused before resuming my training.

_***Naruto* **_

The days passed quickly and soon the day of the Chūnin Exams was upon us. I was waiting in the academy grounds with Naruto and Sasuke as we waited for Sakura to arrive. Naruto was the first to spot her.

"Sakura hey you're late," Naruto called out to her alerting us to her presence. I turned and waved at the pinkette who returned it. Over the three days I had gotten to know a little of my teammates' skills. Although they knew little of mine except my skill with ninja tools and Taijutsu.

Sasuke was defiantly the more advanced in Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, making him a good opponent to try new Justus on. Meanwhile Naruto specialised more in Taijutsu although he had surprised me with his Shadow Clones, his unpredictability also made him a good opponent. However Sakura seemed to be the weak link, despite incredible good at Genjutsu, as she was able to detect and in turn resist most types of Genjutsu and the fact that, she could memorise a lot of information quickly, she, sadly, had little to no skill in either Ninjutsu or Taijutsu.

"Oh right. Sorry guys," Sakura apologised. I noticed that she seemed distracted by something. "Good morning Sasuke," Sakura greeted the Uchiha.

"Whatever," Sasuke responded flatly. I had also learnt that Sasuke wasn't very sociable, whilst Naruto was hyperactive and Sakura had a crush on Sasuke big enough to match the sun.

We headed in and walked up the stairs to the second floor, I had to follow the others as I didn't know where I was going. Walking along a hallway we heard a commotion, I looked up to see a large crowd of people around a door with two other shinobi berating them. The sign above it said 301, it immediately set me on edge. Naruto had told me that the room number always began with the floor they were on. So how could 301 be here when we were only on the second floor, there was only one possible reason, a Genjutsu.

"Real nice speech. Now both of you step aside and let me through. And while you're at it reverse the Genjutsu, we can see through your illusion anyway. We're going to the third floor," Sasuke demanded. I rolled my eyes but at least I wasn't the only one who had noticed the obvious slip up. Everyone else began to whisper behind us in confusion at Sasuke's statement. But the shinobi in front of us did admit it.

"Go ahead Sakura tell them. I'm sure you saw it before anyone else did," Sasuke encouraged the pinkette. Sakura seemed confused and her answer was shaky which made me a little confused. Me and Naruto gave a positive agreement and then the Genjutsu was dispelled. The shinobi congratulated us but one of them attacked Sasuke who reacted. However before either could deal a blow a boy a year older than me appeared between them.

The boy had very thick eyebrows and large, rounded black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, his hair was black and styled in a bowl-cut style. He wore a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt. He also had bandages around his hands and wrist. I was stunned by the boy's speed it had been a long time since I had seen someone able to outmatch me in speed. The boy let them go and two others walked up to him.

"Hey what happened to the plan? I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and don't let anyone see our skill level," A brunette boy argued to the fast boy.

"I know but…," The boy began but he trailed off as he looked at Sakura. I think I saw a blush appeared on his cheeks. I stepped away from Sakura who looked at me in confusion, I noticed that the injuries he had before were gone. I watched as the boy walked over to Sakura.

"My name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura right?" The boy asked. His question stunned Sakura into silence. "Please be my girlfriend, I vow to protect you with my life" Rock Lee declared, he had winked at her and gave her a thumbs up and I think his teeth shined as well. But Sakura flat out rejected him breaking the poor guy's heart.

"Hey you over here. What's your name?" The male from before called out. I turn to look at him as he hadn't specified who. He was a year older than me with dark brown hair that reached the middle of his back and was tied back a few inches above the end in a loose ponytail, while two straps attached to a smaller headband underneath his ninja forehead protector frame the sides of his face. He had very fair skin and his eyes had a slight tint of lavender to them but no pupil. He wore a black forehead protector that he wore snugly over his forehead. He wore a khaki shirt, dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals. He also had bandages wrapped around his right arm and right leg.

"Whose name?" I asked. The boy glared at me but I didn't flinch, his glare was like a feather in the breeze to me.

"The boy's," He clarified as he pointed at Sasuke. I shrugged and turned to ignore him. However I did see that the boy's question had greatly angered Naruto.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's," Sasuke retorted. I rolled my eyes remembering how he hadn't used that 'common courtesy' when he asked for Gaara's name.

"Hey you're a rookie aren't you? How old are you anyway?" The boy questioned. He seemed pretty intent on getting answers from Sasuke first.

"I'm not obliged to answer," Sasuke responded. He was determined not to give in either. I noticed that this heavily annoyed the blind boy.

"What's that?" The boy asked annoyance seeping into his voice. A giggle sounded next to him and I saw a girl that stood with him. She was a year older than me she had dark brown hair and eyes. She wore her hair in buns on either side of her head with short fringe-bangs falling over her forehead protector which she wore in the traditional manner. She wore a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons as well as dark green pants and standard blue ninja sandals.

Sasuke eventually turned around and we went to walk on only to see both Naruto and Rock Lee depressed about different reasons.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke, Ami let's go," Sakura suggested. I nodded to my fellow teammate and snapped Naruto out of his depression before the boys were dragged by Sakura off to the third floor with me following behind them. We were already and raring to go for the Chūnin Exams


	2. Chapter 2

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 2: - Chūnin Challenge

We continued on to the third floor after the incident from only a few minutes earlier. The three we had encountered had stared at us as we left the vicinity, we climbed down some steps and stepped into an area which was open and had two rows of pillars standing at the end of it, which lead to the outside.

"Hey you, with the attitude. Hold on!" A voice called out form behind us. We stopped walking and turned around to see the boy in the green jumpsuit from before. I knew his question was directed at Sasuke and so waited for the young Uchiha to speak.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked. I was also curious as to why the boy had followed us, especially with the exam deadline not so far off.

"I want to fight. Right here and right now," The boy declared, purpose and determination wove through his voice like a thread.

"You want o fight me here and now huh?" Sasuke questioned, as if he didn't quite believe what the boy had said.

"Yes," The boy confirmed. He then proceeded to jump down from the balcony he stood upon, he landed with a crouch before standing up and pointing at himself. "My name is Rock Lee. You said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give their own name first right, Sasuke Uchiha," The boy introduced himself.

"So you know my name," Sasuke retorted. Rock Lee then assumed a fighting stance, his arms stretched out and fingers curved.

"I challenge you. Everyone is always talking about Uchiha clan and how great they are, I want to see if it is true, you will be a good test for me. And also…," Rock Lee began to speak before his eyes averted to Sakura who froze in terror.

"Oh Sakura. I love you," Lee declared. I blinked at his proclamation, wondering how he could fall for her so fast, Sakura screamed in fear at this and I was deeply confused as once again… sometimes I didn't understand my own gender.

"Those eyebrows can't be real. NO!" She screamed. I stepped away from the pinkette, and closer to Sasuke in the process, to get away from the screaming. "Your hairstyle is horrible to and those eyebrows are so bushy. You're such a weirdo," Sakura continued on her rant as her entire body began to shake as she huddled into herself.

"You are an angel, sent from heaven," Lee compliment. He then began to wink at her which I think produced flying hearts, Sakura proceeded to dodge the attacking hearts and ending up banging her head against the floor to dodge the final one.

"Hey! Keep your creepy little valentines to yourself. I was dodging for my life there," Sakura exclaimed. I sighed at her over reaction to a simple gesture, Lee seemed heart broken.

"You do not have to be so negative Sakura-chan," Lee said a dishearten tone in his voice.

"You've heard of the Uchiha clan, yet you're challenging me? You just be even more psycho than you look, if that's possible. You want to know more about my clan, then I'll teach you. The hard way," Sasuke informed the young man, getting the subject of this conversation back on track.

"Bring it on," Lee replied. I was uneasy about this whole thing, it could end up with any of us being hurt because of stupid male ego.

"Sasuke-san, reconsider," I advised the ravenette. He looked at me, his eyes focused and unwavering.

"Back on Ami," Sasuke snapped. I glared at the boy and he held my gaze for a short time before the silence was broken.

"Hold it!" Naruto cried out. Everyone looked at the blonde wondering hat he was going to say or do. "I get him first. This weirdo is mine," Naruto commented. I looked at the boy wondering what on earth he was thinking.

"Go for it," Sasuke replied, his tone showed that he was uncaring about this whole ordeal.

"Naruto," Sakura said in her warning tone. I gritted my teeth and the stupidity of this situation.

"What? It'll take me two minutes to have this guy begging for mercy," Naruto boasted.

"You must respect _**all**_ your opponents, Naruto-san. Do not doubt his abilities," I warned the blonde.

"No thank you. Right now the only one I want to fight is Uchiha-san," Lee protested to the new challenge. This rejection did not sit well with Naruto.

"Well I've got news for you. Sasuke can't compare to me, believe it!" Naruto declared as he rushed towards the other boy. However Naruto couldn't even land a blow as Rock Lee simply diverted the attack with a light push of his fingers.

Naruto landed on his hands and, using the momentum, he twisted around to hit Lee's face but Lee dodged out of the way and spun out with his leg, striking Naruto's balancing hand.

"Leaf Whirlwind," Lee declared. Naruto lost his balance and began to spin around on his back and he ended up slammed into the wall behind them.

"Impressive," I compliment. Everyone diverted their attention to me, I remained silent but I couldn't help but remained focus on Lee, waiting to see his fighting style, to see if my assumption was right.

"Just accept it. You have no chance against me, your skills are inferior," Lee declared. Naruto was still stunned from Lee's attack, and thus unable to reply. "You see Sasuke, out of all the top Leaf Genin I am the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you," Lee added on to his proclamation.

"This'll be fun, lets do it," Sasuke declared as he dropped into a fighting stance. I sighed and threw my arms in the air and the men's stupidity.

"There's no time Sasuke. We've got to register by 3 o'clock that's less than half an hour," Sakura warned. I looked at the clock than hung on the wall, only to see we had less than 25 minutes to register.

"Sakura-san is right Sasuke-san. Leave this battle for another day," I advised once again. Although I did want to see Lee's fighting style, I highly doubted that this would be the last we saw of Lee.

"Relax, this'll all be over in five seconds," Sasuke boasted. He then charged towards Lee, however when he went to strike, Lee disappeared.

"Leaf Hurricane," Lee declared as he reappeared in mid-air and went to strike a Sasuke. He managed to dodge but Lee spun around again and went to strike his body, Sasuke raised his arms to block the attack but it managed to get through when the guard weakened for just a moment.

Sasuke was sent flying back as a result of the attack, he landed on his back and went skidding across the floor ending up beside us. Sakura was shocked at what happened, whilst I was confused, I knew that the guard was up so how was Lee able to get through.

"What's going on?" Sasuke questioned, as he struggled to get up. When he finally rose to his feet, I knew that he would prepare to assault the young man once again.

"I've been waiting to try this out," Sasuke boasted. When Sasuke raised his head, I saw that his irises had become red with a black ring inside each iris with tomoe laced upon each, both of the eye contained two tomoe.

'Sharingan.' I thought identifying the Dōjutsu that Sasuke held. But if I was correct the eye would be useless against Lee. I saw that Sakura looked over-joyed it was obvious that she knew about the eye's powers but she didn't _**really**_ know the powers.

Sasuke charged forward once again but Lee managed to slam his leg into the Uchiha's chin sending the boy up into the air. I smirked knowing I was right.

"You see my technique is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Lee stated, before running towards Sasuke. I pulled Sakura out of the way so that she wouldn't get hurt, the two boys continued to fight each other in close quarters, Lee continually managed to land blows but Sasuke couldn't even perform a counterattack. Sasuke stumbled back, his breathing ragged and he clutched his stomach in pain.

"You get now? I am using Taijutsu that means no tricks," Lee explained. He then disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. "It is just straight martial arts, nothing more," Lee finished his statement.

"Why you!" Sasuke cried out as he flung his arm back but Lee dodged it using his superior speed.

"I know your technique. Forget it will not work, not on me. I know you can see through your opponent's jutsu, that Sharingan gives you the ability to read their chakra and decipher his hand signs and movements, you can guess what he's going to do almost before he knows himself. The problem is that Taijutsu is a little bit different," Lee began to explain. I was impressed by his reservoir of Sharingan knowledge.

"Right so, what's your point?" Sasuke questioned, the other boy. I sighed and looked at the clock, seeing that many minutes had passed already.

"I do not try to hide of disguise my moves. I do not have to, even if you can read them, you still cannot stop them, you are too slow. Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me but if your body cannot keep up what good does it do you," Lee finished explaining. This fact annoyed Sasuke greatly.

"You know what I believe, there are two different kind of ninja. Those like you who are born with talent and do not have to work at it," Lee said. I looked at the boy, his belief was strange but in a way true, Sasuke didn't care to hear the rest as he charged for Lee again. "And there are those like me, the ones who have to train every day of our lives," Lee finished his belief. Sasuke swung for him but Lee dodge the attack. "Fact is your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme Taijutsu. Here is what I mean!" Lee declared.

He slammed his leg into Sasuke, sending the boy into the air, he then used his speed to get into the air and appear behind Sasuke, who was shocked.

"Dancing Leaf Shadow," Sasuke stated, obviously recognising the technique.

"Good eye. Now I will prove me point," Lee informed as his hands began to twitch. The bandage that was wrapped around his right hand seemed to take a life of it own as it began to unravel by itself. "That hard work beat natural talent," Lee finished.

Me and Sakura watched from below waiting for Lee's next move, when all of a sudden something flew out and it struck Lee's bandage pinning it to the wall, the object turn out to be… a paper windmill?

'Ok now I'm lost. Who the hell threw it and why a windmill?' I wondered in my mind as I looked for the source of the attack.

"Alright that's enough Lee," A voice called out. I looked over only to see… a tortoise. Both of the floating boy bega to descend, I could tell Lee was going to be fine but Sasuke was another story.

"Sasuke," Sakura called out. I rushed over and grabbed a hold of the Uchiha setting him down, Sakura settled down on the other side of Sasuke, whilst I looked at the strange boy. "Are you ok? Sasuke!" Sakura called out to the boy.

"You, you were watching us the whole time?" Lee asked the tortoise. He was knelt down in front of it.

"Of course! That last technique is forbidden you know that," The tortoise reprimanded. I looked at the unusual scene before, wondering what to do.

"I am so sorry. I did not mean to," Lee apologised, suddenly he leapt back with a slight scream. "I was not planning to use the forbidden jutsu it is just I was in the middle of the fight and I mean, you understand," Lee rambled on to the tortoise.

"Hey you guys!" Naruto called out. I looked over to see that the blonde had finally woken up.

"What Naruto?" Sakura asked the hyperactive boy as he rushed over to us.

"That weird thing he's talking to is a turtle right?" Naruto asked. I clammed a hand over Sakura's mouth to prevent her from yelling at him before shaking my head.

"Technically Naruto it's a tortoise but go on," I prompted the blonde who looked confused for a moment.

"Ok so maybe it means turtles can be sensei to," Naruto stated. I was confused by this and my hand dropped from Sakura's mouth allowing the girl to yell at the boy.

"How would I know if they can be sensei to?" Sakura yelled at the boy. I stepped back from those to and looked at the strange scene.

"You're a disgrace!" The tortoise yelled at Lee. My clenched my fist at this, Lee had proven to be strong and a powerful opponent, in my eyes he was not a disgrace. "You think you'll get away with pathetic excuses like that? A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary. It's such a basic rule you should know it by now" The tortoise informed the boy. My fist unclenched as I realised what the tortoise meant, he was right, a shinobi must keep their techniques hidden until the opportune moment.

"Forgive me sir," Lee begged. I glanced down and saw that Sasuke was furious at the fact of losing to Lee.

"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?" The tortoise asked.

"I… Yes sir," Lee answered despite protesting before hand.

"Alright please come out, Guy-sensei," The tortoise asked an unknown man before a puff of smoke appeared on the tortoise's back. The smoke clear only to see a man that looked like a grown up version of Lee.

"Hey! What's shaking? How you doing everybody, life treating you good?" The man asked. I think we all jumped back in shock at this even stranger man appear before us.

"He's got the biggest eyebrows yet. They're almost alive!" Naruto cried out. Even I was disturbed by this man and it was hard for that to happen.

"Hey Lee," The man, who I assumed was Guy-sensei, greeted the young boy.

"Too weird," Sakura stated.

"So that's were Lee gets it from. Same soup bowl haircut and even bushier eyebrows," Naruto stated. However Lee got this as an insult to his sensei and whipped around to face us.

"Hey! Do not insult Guy-sensei. He is one of the greatest men in the entire world," Lee yelled at Naruto.

"Well excuse me for not noticing his greatness. I was too busy watching him crawl out from underneath a turtle," Naruto yelled back. I sighed and stepped away from the group.

"He did not crawl out," Lee protested. I had to agree, he had, technically, teleported onto the tortoise.

"Give it a rest Lee," Guy advised. Lee conceded and turned back around to face his teacher.

"Yes sir," Lee answered. Then Guy raised his hand and it began to twitch.

"Now for your punishment," Guy said. Before he punched Lee in the face sending him flying backwards. "You little fool!" Guy yelled as Lee went flying backwards. Then Guy walked up to the crumpled Lee and knelt down in front of him.

"I'm sorry Lee. It's for your own good," Guy apologised. However this lead to an extremely awkward between the two… well awkward for the spectators.

"Who vote we run now?" I asked as I raised my hand. Immediately the others also raised their hands in agreement. However Naruto said something which caused Sakura to yell at him. I then heard Guy order Lee to run, glancing at the clock I realised we only have a few minutes left for registration.

"Wait! There not enough time if you want Lee to register for the exams," I called out to the two they both looked at me.

"Oh right I forgot about that," Guy stated. I stared at the man wondering how he had been able to become a sensei. He then proceeded to order Lee to run even more times than before. All of us stared at the two people with a variety of expressions as to how weird they are.

"Oh no he's looking at us!" Sakura exclaimed in panic. I looked up to see that she was right.

"Tell me how is Kakashi-sensei?" Guy asked. I raised my eyebrow in surprise that he knew Kakashi-sensei.

"Do you know him?" Sasuke replied with a question.

"Do I know Kakashi. Well people say… he and I are arch rivals for all eternity," Guy said and he chuckled. Naruto and Sakura didn't believe him then all of a sudden Guy disappeared and he reappeared behind us.

"My record is 50 wins and 49 loses. Which is one better than his," Guy stated. I turned to face him, my body tense. The others didn't believe him but Guy bragged about being better then Kakashi.

"Word to the wise. Don't do that again unless you want to die," I warned. Guy blinked in surprise but regained his calm composure.

"I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused. Look into my eyes and accept my sincere apology, also notice my handsome manly features," Guy apologised. "Lee you should accompany these fine young ninjas to the class room," Guy told his pupil. He then threw a kunai at the windmill which freed Lee's bandage.

I turned around and watched as Lee re-wrapped his bandages, I noticed that his hand was badly bruised and scarred, also above his first two knuckles was a stitch.

'Proof that he has defiantly trained harder than anyone here, probably even me.' I thought. Guy gave words of encouragement before he and the tortoise disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Hey Sasuke. Actually I have not been totally honest with you, I said I wanted to test my skills and that is true enough, but you are not the one I really wanted to test them against," Lee told us. Sasuke looked really angry about this fact.

"I lied to you when we were fighting before, I told you I am the best Genin here but there is another top ninja, someone on my own team. I cam here to defeat him, you were just practice, now you are a target. I will crush you, there you have it consider yourself warned," Lee declared. He then jumped up on to the balcony and took off.

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Naruto insulted the Uchiha clan, Sasuke became angry as his fists began to shake.

"Just shut up! Next time I'll drive him to his knees," Sasuke declared. I shook my head as the fighting began to start up again.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted. Everyone looked at me shocked by my cry, I glared at all three of them. "I have not been a member of this team long but I am already sick and tired of the arguing. We must learn to work together otherwise we will fail these exams," I told the three. They fell silent and looked down before Naruto raised his head and looked at Sasuke.

"You saw his hands when he took off the tape didn't you?" Naruto questioned, his face was passive as if he was contemplating things. "I bet ole' bushy brows has been training until he drops, day in, day out. He trains harder than you that's for sure," Naruto stated.

"Agreed. A piece of advice Sasuke," I said, causing the ravenette to turn to me. "You must respect your opponent's capabilities otherwise they'll crush you," I told him. Everyone looked at me surprised before Sasuke actually smirked.

"Fine. This thing's starting to get interesting. The Chūnin exams I can wait to see what happens next," Sasuke said. I nodded and the others voiced their agreements as well.

"Let's get started, Naruto, Sakura, Ami," Sasuke said. We agreed and headed off to our destination.


	3. Chapter 3

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 3: - Genin Takedown

We arrived in front of room 301, where a familiar face greeted us, we stared at the person waiting at the door. The silence was tense in the air, so tense that it could be cut with a blunt kunai.

"Glad you cam Sakura. For your sake… and the others," Kakashi said. Sakura seemed shocked by his statement, then again I think we all were. "Now you can all formally register for the Chūnin Exam," Kakashi informed us.

"Why? What did you mean?" Sakura asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"You see only groups of three, are allowed to apply for and take the exams, that's the way it's always been," Kakashi explained. Sakura seemed confused by his explanation.

"But sensei, you said the decision to take the exam was up to the individual and Ami is here so wouldn't they have been able to get in anyway?" Sakura protested.

"That's right I did, sort off. It is an individual decision but it effects all of you, I didn't tell you before because I didn't want the other guys pressuring you. At the same time I didn't want you to feel obliged to participate because of any feelings you might have for Sasuke or Naruto, I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will," Kakashi responded.

"Wait a minute are you saying that if the others had shown up without me-," Sakura began to realise the implications

"It would have been the end of the line for them. Even with Ami being present, as she is technically a temporary member her true team has yet to be decided. But it's a moot point your all here for the right reasons," Kakashi finished up.

"Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke I'm proud of you, Ami I'm sure you'll make me proud. I couldn't ask for a better team. Good Luck," Kakashi wished. We all smiled at this, even I was touched by what he said.

"We won't let you down sensei. Believe it," Naruto declared. Sasuke and Sakura both walked forward and opened the doors, we stepped through and the doors closed however before us was an extremely intimidating sight… well to the others it probably was.

"Wh-What's this?" Naruto stuttered out in shock. Sasuke narrowed his eyes whilst Sakura's eyes were filled with fear. Before us, row after row, of ninja from different nations stared at us, their eyes filled with annoyance, tension filled the room to a boiling point.

"Sasuke where've you been," a shrill voice shattered the tension. I whipped my head around only to see a girl of my age jump onto Sasuke's back hugging him, his expression showed he was less than pleased with the action. "Boy you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up here. I've missed those brooding good looks of yours," The girl said.

The girl was fair-skinned and of average height with blue eyes, her most noticeable trait in her appearance is her long, blonde hair, which was worn in a high-ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a pair of small silver hoop-earrings and a short purple vest like blouse with a raised collar, a purple apron skirt that is cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this, and her forehead protector around her waist as a belt.

"Hey you porker, back off he's mine," Sakura declared. I looked at the pinkette and saw that she had a furious expression on her face. The girl let go of Sasuke when she took notice of Sakura.

"Miss Forehead, they let you in? Still got those big frown lines on your Billboard Brow I see," The girl retorted.

"Leave my forehead out of it," Sakura yelled back. I remained by Naruto's side staying out of this spat as much as possible.

"Oh it's you guys," A male voice said. I looked behind the girl only to see two other boys of my age. "I knew this was going to be a drag but I didn't know it would be this bad," The boy on the right spoke.

The boy that spoke had shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. He wore a simple pair of silver hoop earrings along with a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, his blue forehead protector worn around his left arm, brown pants, and blue sandals.

The boy that was next to him had spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and a more robust physique than most other people I had seen. He wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short-sleeved, green haori, over a white shirt with the kanji for food on it, small, hoop earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages. His forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side.

"So all three stooges are here," Naruto taunted.

"Hey you know what pipsqueak. Ah forget it you're a waste of time," the boy retorted. I pulled Naruto back to my side whilst avoiding the arguing girls.

"Who are these people?" I asked. Naruto sighed and nodded towards the boy that spoke. "Quitely as well please," I added on, Naruto pouted but nodded

"Shikamaru Nara. Always complaining never does anything about it. The laziest kid in the academy," Naruto said. I nodded and Naruto turned to the other boy that was currently munching away on a bag of chips. "Chōji Akimichi. Aki-munchie's more like it I think he'd eat his own head if he could," Naruto continued, he then nodded towards the girl.

"Sorry but Sasuke is all mine," The blonde girl taunted as she pulled a face at Sakura.

"Ino Yamanaka. Now she's annoying and not just because she's got the same stupid thing for Sasuke that Sakura's got," Naruto finished up with the introduction.

"It's called a crush… or infatuation they're the same thing," I said. Naruto blinked at me surprised before turning back to the group.

"Well, well, what do you know? It looks like the whole gangs back together again," another male voice called out. I looked over to see another group of three approach us, two males and one female.

The boy at the front had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails, he also has the distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks. His outfit consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood placed on his head, with a blue forehead protector and blue sandals. On his head was a small white dog.

The other was a fair-skinned ninja and the tallest member of the group that was gathered near me. He has dark, bushy, brown hair and dark sunglasses. He wore a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar, blue pants and blue sandals.

The girl had short dark blue hair and fair skin, she also has the same white yet slightly tinted lavender eye as the boy from the hallway earlier. She wore a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants, she wore her Konoha forehead protector around her neck.

"Oh, hi Naruto," the girl greeted. Naruto looked at her and she suddenly looked down, her pale cheeks flushed red.

"Hinata Hyūga. She's ok, but I don't know why she gets all shy and embarrassed every time I like… look at her, it's kind of weird," Naruto told me. I sighed, not believing how dense Naruto could be, Hinata obviously like him.

"Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru. Forget what I said about Ino, this guy's the most annoying of all, thinks he's so cool," Naruto said gesturing to the boy with the dog, before turning to the last boy.

"Then there's Shino Aburame. Well he's just weird, kind of a mystery but that doesn't mean he isn't annoying to," Naruto finished up the introductions. I nodded and turned back to the others.

"You guys to huh? Man everyone's here for this stupid thing," Shikamaru complained.

"Yep, here we all are. The nine rookies, this is going to be fun. At least for those of us good enough to make the cut, right Sasuke?" Kiba boasted.

"Kiba careful you don't get over confident," Sasuke warned.

"Just wait we're going to blow you guys away. We've been training like crazy," Kiba boasted. I rolled my eyes at the over-confidence brimming form this fool.

"I think you're a little late Sasuke-san," I chirped in. Everyone's head snapped towards me varying expressions of shock, annoyance and confusion appeared on all their faces… except for Shino.

"Who are you cutie?" Kiba asked, a smirk on his face.

"Ami. And call me cutie again and I'll break your arm," I hissed at the boy. He smirked even wider.

"Alright then Ami, first rule you got to learn is that Sasuke is-," Ino began to speak but I snapped my head in her direction.

"Is a human being and has the right to choose who he wants to be with. He is not a possession and to add to that point I haven't seen your name on him at all," I cut off the blonde. Everyone froze as if stunned by my sentence, Sasuke most of all had a surprised look on his face.

"Hey you guys. You might want trying to keep it down a little, I mean no offence you're the 9 well 10 rookies, right? Fresh out of the academy, I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves, just cool it this isn't a class field trip," A man advised. I looked in his direction, my body immediately tensed upon seeing the man and a string of curses rose in my throat, but I clamped my teeth down on my tongue.

The man had ash-grey tied in a ponytail with bangs framing his forehead and onyx eyes hair he wore a pair of black rimmed circular glasses, a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a shuriken holster on his right leg, he wore Konoha forehead protector.

"Well who asked you? Who are you?" Ino asked the man. I kept my gaze trained on the man, waiting for anything to happen.

"Kabuto Yakushi. But really look around you, you've made _**quite **_an impression," Kabuto said. All the others turned to look at the horde of ninja before us, whilst I kept my eyes locked on Kabuto, I could feel the eyes of every ninja in the room boring into us. "See those guys, they're from the Rain village. Very touchy, they all are, this exam makes everyone tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way," Kabuto warned the others. Things fell quite for a short time before Kabuto began to speak again.

"You can't help it. I mean how could you know how things works, you're just rookies. You remind me of myself a little while back," Kabuto stated. I clenched my fist, to restrain myself from snapping at him.

"Kabuto is that you're name?" Sakura asked and Kabuto gave a positive answer. "This isn't the first time you've taken this exam," Sakura stated. Kabuto adjusted his position and he looked nervous.

"No it's my seventh," Kabuto revealed. Everyone seemed confused by his statement. "Well they're held twice a year, so this will be my fourth year," Kabuto explained.

"Wow a veteran, you must really be an expert by now?" Sakura questioned the man. He seemed embarrassed by this statement.

"Yeah, sort of," Kabuto answered

"Cool you can give us all the inside tips," Naruto exclaimed. I took a deep breath, to calm my nerves and I relaxed my hand.

"Yeah some expert. He's never passed," Shikamaru pointed out. He had a good point.

"Well seventh time's the charm. That's what they say," Kabuto said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"So I guess all those rumours about the exam being hard are true. Oh man I knew this was going to be a drag," Shikamaru wined.

"Hang on, don't give up hope yet. Maybe I can help you kids out a little, with my ninja info cards," Kabuto responded, as he pulled out orange-backed cards, with a green outline and the kanji for shinobi was also on the back.

"What the heck are those?" Sakura asked. Pushed off the wall I leant against and headed over to her.

"They're special cards that contain different types of information," I explained. Kabuto's eyes flicked to me and they narrowed in confusion, before turning back to Sakura.

"Your friend is right. These cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learnt over the past four years. I've got more than 200 hundred of them so you see, I haven't been completely wasting my time," Kabuto added on. He bent down and set down a single card, which on the other side appeared blank. "They may not look like much to the naked eye, in fact they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff," Kabuto explained. He then placed a finger on the card and began to rotate it.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked confused.

"You see, I'm using my chakra to reveal they're secrets. Like this for example," Kabuto finished up and a puff of smoke came off the card revealing a map of the lands, upon some of that lands were green bars stretching up and these bars were connect to the symbols that were commonly seen on the forehead protector.

"Awesome a map!" Sakura exclaimed, before she gained a thoughtful expression. "Of what?" Sakura asked.

"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who have come to take the Chūnin exams, what village they come from and how many from each village," Kabuto explained, everyone seemed to understand what he meant. "Why do you guys think they all come here to take the exams together at the same time?" Kabuto asked. However nobody gave an answer to his question.

"It's to foster friendship between nations of course. International brotherhood and all that and it's true enough… as far as it goes," Kabuto answer his own question, yet left something lingering in the air.

"But there's another reason," Sasuke stated, obviously sensing that Kabuto was leaving something out.

"Yeah, you see the important thing is that this way they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi that end up in each village, there by maintaining the balance of power," Kabuto explained.

"Yeah, balance of power," Naruto repeated but I could tell that he was confused.

"Balance of power. Big deal, it's all a drag," Shikamaru stated, in a bored tone. Kabuto stopped the chakra flow and the image on the card disappeared.

"If the balance isn't maintained, one nation could wind up with many more than its' neighbours and it might be tempted to attack them, so they try to maintain the status quo. Makes sense I suppose," Kabuto expanded further into his explanation.

"Do those cards of yours have any info on the other candidates, individually?" Sasuke questioned. I glanced at the boy wondering exactly who he wanted to learn about.

"They might, you have someone special in mind?" Kabuto asked, not giving a straight answer to Sasuke.

"I might," Sasuke responded also not giving a straight answer.

"Well, I can't promise that my information is complete or perfect, but I've got something on just about everyone. Including you guys of course, well expect for you," Kabuto finally answered, directing the last part at me. He put the map card back onto the pile and made it neat.

"So which one is it tell me anything. A description, where they're from, whatever. Anything at all," Kabuto told Sasuke. A gleam in his black eyes as he held one of his ninja cards.

"He's Gaara of the Desert and there's Rock Lee of the Leaf Village while you're at it," Sasuke told him. A frown appeared on Kabuto's face.

"Man, that's no fun, you even know their names. That makes it easy," Kabuto complained. He then removed two cards from the pile and placed them down on the floor.

"Ok first up is Rock Lee," Kabuto informed as he pushed his chakra into the card. When the image appeared it showed Lee, I assumed his team, his skills stats and his mission stats and other information.

"Looks like he's about a year older than you guys. Mission experience, 11 C-ranks and 20 D-ranks. His squad leader is Guy, in the last twelve months his Taijutsu has radically improved but his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year he got a lot of attention as a Genin but for some reason he chose not to participate in the Chūnin exams. This will be his first time as a candidate, same as you. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyūga," Kabuto listed off.

My eyes widened at hearing the name, the picture depicted the boy from earlier, who had demanded answers from Sasuke. 'So he was blind that was his clan's customary eye.' I thought realising the truth.

"Ok. Now for Gaara of the Desert," Kabuto muttered as he pushed chakra into the card. The display of Gaara's card was the same as Lee's card, except that his skill stats were displayed as unknown. "Mission experience 8 C-ranks and, get this 1 B-rank as a Genin. There's not a lot more information on this guy, he's a rookie from another land after all, but there is this, he survived every mission without getting a scratch on him," Kabuto told us. This caused shock to course htrough the nine Genin.

'So nothing has changed, has it, Gaara.' I thought in my mind. Kabuto reactivated the map card.

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound. From the looks of it they've all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exams this time around. Of course the Hidden Sound Village is small, it sprang up recently. No one knows anything about it, those guys are a mystery. Well you get the point, the competition's going to be intense this year," Kabuto explained as he placed the cards back onto the stack.

Everyone was unnerved by what Kabuto said and Ino even snapped at Hinata for stating a simple fact. Sakura asked for Kabuto's opinion and he agreed, Naruto's body began to shake and then suddenly he spun around to face the other ninja and pointed at them.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to beat every one of you. Believe it!" Naruto called out. Everything fell silent, the tension so thick a blunt tooth could cut through it, the only thing I could really do was stare in shock at Naruto's… I couldn't describe it.

Ino and Sakura ended arguing about something, however everyone else was quite, Naruto was relax whilst the other ninja were glaring at us. Kiba and Shikamaru insulted the boy and Sakura put him in a headlock, I walked over to Sasuke and tapped his shoulder.

"Is it always like this?" I asked motioning to the scene before us. Sasuke looked forward and sighed as if annoyed by our teammates' antics.

"Pretty much," Sasuke answered. I detected the smallest of smirks on his face before shaking my head at the two ninja, as Sakura attempted to pacify the glaring contestants, before returning to yelling at the blonde. Suddenly something caught my attention, a blur moving at a fast speed amongst the crowd of ninja and it was heading… straight for Kabuto.

A man appeared and he threw two kunai at Kabuto who dodge them, however another man appeared and swung at him. Kabuto dodged the attack however after a mere few seconds his glasses cracked and he fell to the floor coughing up blood.

Naruto and Sakura rushed over to him, whislt the man that had swung at him talked down to Kabuto I walked behind him and then I quickly seized the arm he attacked with and twisted it behind his back and I kicked at the back of his leg foring him down.

"I suggest that you stop causing trouble before trouble finds you," I advised the Sound ninjas who all stared at me.

"How did you-," The man I held began to ask before a sound cut him off.

"All right you baby-faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up," A male voice called out. Letting the Sound ninja go and I whipped around to face the speak, as the spoke cleared it shown a large group of ninja with a single man in front, I could only assume the one at the front was the one who spoke. "It's time to begin, I'm Ibiki Morino your proctor. And from this moment your worst enemy," The man said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 4: - The Chūnin Exam Begins

I looked at the man who had called out to all of us, the silence permeated the air with tension. The man before me had a large, imposing figure, he also had a rugged face which held some old wounds and scars. His head was covered with his forehead protector, he wore simple grey ninja suit with a dark blue-black trench coat over it. He then pointed in our direction.

"First you candidates from the Village in the Sound. Knock it off! Who told you, you could fight?! You want to be failed before we've even begun?!" Ibiki yelled out at the three ninja, my eyes flitted between the proctor and the Sound ninja waiting for something to happen.

"Sorry. It's our first time, guess we're a little jumpy… sir," The man that swung at Kabuto responded.

The man had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered, he also wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf. I remembered seeing that he had a large grey item attached to on his right arm it had multiple holes across its' surface. His back was hunched, which made him look smaller than he actually was.

"I'll say this once so listen up. There will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without permission from your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?" Ibiki stated. No one dared respond to what he said, until the other male Sound ninja spoke up.

"No fatal force. That's no fun," He stated. I glanced at the large group behind Ibiki, they were all smirking, as if this was entertaining to them.

The Sound ninja that had just spoken had spiky, dark hair and dark eyes, he wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front. His forehead protector had attached facial armour on his cheeks and mostly like his forehead that was under the cloth of his forehead protector rather than connected to the metal plate, he also wore a snake patterned scarf around his neck.

"Now if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chūnin Exam. Hand over your paper work in return you'll each be given a number, this number determines were you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated," Ibiki instructed.

"The what? Did he say written?" Naruto asked, a slight note of panic rising in his voice. Also as if to confirm Naruto's fears, one of the people behind Ibiki pulled out a stack of papers. "No! Not a written test no way!" Naruto cried out. I could only guess that he wasn't any good at written exams.

We were all seated around the room, the people who stood behind Ibiki now occupied chairs scattered about the perimeter of the room. I looked around, spotting my teammates, Sakura and Naruto were in the middle column but on different rows, whilst Sasuke was in the column by the wall and I was in the column by the window. In front of each candidates was a sheet of paper, with the questions on the other side, two pencils, an eraser and their number.

"Everyone eyes front, there are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won't answer any questions so you better pay attention, the first time around. Alright rule number one, the written part of the exam is conducted on a point reduction system, contrary to what some of you maybe use to you all begin the test with a perfect score of 10 points. One point will be deducted for each question you get wrong, so if you miss three your final score is seven," Ibiki explained.

'Interesting. But there's a catch, there's always a catch.' I thought, as I rested my chin on my interlocked hands.

"Rule number two, teams will pass or fail based on the total score of all three members." Ibiki said. Shock rushed through the room and Sakura called out in defiance but Ibiki yelled at her. "Rule number three, the sentinels you see positioned around the room, are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating and for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit's score. Be warned they're eyes are extremely sharp and if they catch you fives times you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored," Ibiki explained.

'Ah ha, so there are many ways to lose points but that is the catch I'm looking for, he's holding something back.' I thought, my lips were pressed into a thin line

"Anyone fool enough to get caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here. If you want to be considered shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be," Ibiki warned. I raised an eyebrow at the last part… it sounded like a challenge.

"One more thing, if any candidate should get zero and fail the test, then the entire team fails," Ibiki announced. My body tensed immediately as my eyes narrowed at the proctor.

'So that's the catch. But then why do I feel like there's still something…wrong.' I thought, glancing down at the paper and then up at the sentinels and finally at Ibiki. 'Something about this scenario does not fit.' I thought.

"The final question won't be given out until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You'll have one hour total," Ibiki informed us. A small time passed and the clock at the very front finally reach half past three. "BEGIN!" Ibiki called out.

I flipped the test paper, a pencil already gripped in my right hand and I began to read the first question, the sound of tapping lead echoed through the silent room. Some time passed as I read over the nine available question, I then realised something and I was forced to suppress a chuckle.

'I should have known. Ibiki is renowned for being a specialist in torture and interrogation because of his deep understanding of the human mind. These questions are too hard for a Genin to answer them, even I can't answer 7 of them. Meaning if we want to pass we _**need **_to cheat but because of those rules he's trying to put us off cheating. He's testing our intel gathering skills whilst also trying to screw with our heads.' I realised as I took a deep breath and looked at the sentinels and Ibiki.

'Alright Ibiki, a true shinobi must see through deception. Unfortunately for you my previous sensei honed my observation skills to a point 100 times sharper than your sentinels.' I thought.

I began to answering the two questions that I could as I glanced about the room, Sakura appeared to be able to handle the questions along with barely a hand full of other people, however everyone else was struggling to answer the questions.

I placed the pencil down on my answer sheet and linked my fingers together as I closed my eyes thinking on how to gather the answers without being spotted, it wouldn't be easy but luckily I was sandwiched between people and I knew how to disguise things.

I began my strategy, as I moulded my chakra together I removed my hair ribbon, I thread my hand through my hair and I began to retie it all the while discreetly, as I wove the ribbon, I formed the hand seals for Ram, Bird, Monkey and Snake.

"Lighting Style – Lighting Streak," I whispered, a feather light sound, as I finished tying the ribbon. Then to everyone it would appear that I flickered or remained still if they weren't looking however I rank faster that the naked eye could see and I was able to easily collect the answers without being spotted. I jotted them down on the paper before setting the pencil and I looked to the front, hoping the other two figured out the trick and soon.

I glanced about noticing how quite a few people were cheating, Gaara was using his sand if the moving bits around his hand was anything to go by, Kiba was using Akamaru, glancing upwards I saw mirrors attached to a land and Tenten controlling them by near invisible wires connected to her hand.

'These Leaf Genin are more impressive than I thought, they quickly and almost effortlessly used their skills to discreetly cheat and, if they can, pass on the information to their teammates.' I thought, a smirk resting on my face as I looked over to where Naruto was sat.

'Naruto, unfortunately, doesn't posses the mind-set to be discreet enough to cheat and not be caught. He's too energetic and loud, so long as he doesn't cheat he'll be fine.' I thought as I observed the blonde. Suddenly a kunai flew out and penetrated the desk right behind Naruto.

"What the- What was that all about?" A Genin asked as he stood up. A sentinel stood at the front of the room, a light cocky smirk resting on his face.

"Five strikes and you're out. You just failed the test," The sentinel replied. The Genin began to shake lightly his body twitching as he realised what had happened.

"What?! It can't be," The Genin protested. However both him and his teammates were forced to leave. I watched as they left and I let out a breath, that I didn't realise I had been holding.

'Thank goodness that wasn't Naruto. This test is really pushing the skills of these Genin, lets just pray and hope it all works out.' I thought as I went back to observing the room.

More people were caught cheating and there even ended up being a confrontation between a Sand ninja and a sentinel. I watched as more of the Rookie Nine were able to easily cheat and gain their answers, I saw Ino use her family's special jutsu on Sakura, who had easily breezed through the questions.

'13 teams dismissed.' I thought as the latest team was kicked out when another round were called 'Make that 14.' I mentally corrected. Sand then began to move through the room, I lightly dispersed some of my over abundant lighting chakra which scared off the sand.

Kankurō left the room with an expressionless and pupil less sentinel accompanying him, but his team didn't leave as he was going for a restroom break.

'5 minutes and the tenth question comes out. I wonder what trick will you try and pull on us Ibiki?' I wondered in my mind.

"Alright, listen up. Here's the tenth and final question," Ibiki called out. The tension in the room rose to immeasurable levels. "But before I give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of," Ibiki informed us. The tension rose even more however it was shattered to pieces by the creaking of a door, glancing back I saw that Kankurō had returned.

"Ah, made it just in time. I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening. Well take your seat," Ibiki said. His tone suggested that he knew Kankurō had cheated, I froze wondering if he had seen me, but he couldn't my Lightening Speed was too fast but still I had to wonder.

"These rules are unique to question 10, listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you," Ibiki stated, an ominous tone in his voice. My body tense as the tension began to press down on the room like a gigantic boulder crashing down on us.

"Very well then. Rule number one, each of you is free to choose not to be given the question, it's your decision," Ibiki explained. Confusion washed over the room and mummers began to lightly erupt.

'Why? Why give us this option? What's the drawback to not taking the final question?' I wondered in my mind, knowing something was up.

"Wow! So what's the catch lets say we decide we don't want to do it, what happens then?" The girl who was with Kankurō and Gaara called out, obviously knowing that something was up as well.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, then regardless of your answers to the other nine, you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail and that of course means both your teammates fail as well," Ibiki answered, this caused the mummers to grow louder in protest. I was extremely confused by this option.

'Why would he give us the option when not taking the question means we fail… unless taking the question has a greater risk!' I realised, it was a possibility and Ibiki knew the human mind better than anyone, he enjoyed messing with peoples heads, anyone who knew of him knew that fact.

"Not so fast. You didn't let me finish, if you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly… you will not only fail. You will be barred from taking the Chūnin Exam ever again!" Ibiki declared. Shock flooded the room like a monsoon, my eyes widened in shock at this declaration, I couldn't tell if Ibiki was serious or if it was another deception.

"Hey that bull man! That's ridiculous, what kind of bogus rule is that. There are lots of people here who've taken the test before," Kiba cried out as he stood up, Akamaru barked agreeing with his master. However their protests only caused Ibiki to laugh.

"I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it, you don't have to," Iniki taunted. Kiba backed down after that. "If you're not feeling confident then by all means skip you can come back and try again next year," Ibiki added on and he began to laugh.

However something about Ibiki's last statement was lodged in my brain, these exams were to see whether or not an individual could think and act like a Chūnin who ranked as a squad leader.

'The exam is set to tests our abilities as a squad leader. In a mission no matter what risks there are unknown or not, you don't get a second chance, you have to take the risk.' I thought and decided to stay… now to see if my team had the guts to stay and take the risk.

"Now then if you're ready, the tenth and final question. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand, your number will be recorded and then you're free to go," Ibiki informed. The tension hung in the air and I just watched and waited looking for who would crack under the pressure first.

"Oh, I'm out, that's it. I'm out, I just can't do it I'm sorry," A Genin next to Naruto called out. He apologised to his teammates as they left the room, however his declaration caused a lot more people to quit as well. However none were the Rookie nine, I could only wonder if any of them would break.

From my positon I was able to see Sakura begin to raise her hand, a sad expression on her face, however the one I least suspect of all to raise their hand beat her to it… Naruto lift his arm to the air. Silence hung in the air as I stared at him in shock wondering what caused him to turn tail and flee, he didn't see like the time to run from any battle, however his hand then flew down slamming onto the desk sending out an loud bang.

"Don't underestimate me, I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't going to scare me off! No way, I don't care if I get stuck as a Genin the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage some day!" Naruto cried out. I stare in shock that I had misread his action, no one had ever been able to trick my skills like that.

'Naruto you are one of a kind.' I though. Ibiki maintained a calm face, but his eyes seemed surprised and even a little impressed by Naruto's proclamation.

"This decision is one that could change your life. If for any reason you would rather quit, now's your last chance," Ibiki offered Naruto.

"No way, I never go back on my word. That's the way of the ninja," Naruto responded. I blinked confused by this 'way of the ninja' that Naruto said. But I decided to figure it out later.

Glancing about I saw that no one else had raised their hand it appeared that Naruto had given everyone else some backbone. However there were quite a number of teams still left, in this count was Lee's team, Gaara's team and all of the Rookie nine

'You could have waited a couple more second though before you gave your big speech, you hyperactive knuckle head.' I thought, suppressing a chuckle. I noticed that Ibiki and the sentinels had a little silent exchange and I prepared for the next event to begin.

"Well then I admire your determination, if nothing else. For those of you remaining there is only thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you… that you've all passed the first exam," Ibiki declared. Shock rushed through the room at the proclamation.

"H old on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?" Sakura called out as she stood up, confusion and shock laced her voice. Ibiki then began to laugh as if he found the situation hilarious.

"There never was one. Not a written one at least, actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question," Ibiki answered, a smile etched onto his face as he spoke.

"Wait a second! So the other nine questions you gave us, were a waste of time! Is that what you're saying" The blonde girl yelled out.

"No, no, not at all. Quite the opposite, the first nine questions had an important overriding purpose. To test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic Intel in the most adverse circumstances," Ibiki explained.

"Oh well that clears up everything," The blonde girl stated sarcastically.

"Let me explain, you see my objective was to test you not only as individuals but as a team and how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis so you'd know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you'd handle the pressure," Ibiki explained. Naruto acted like he understood and knew what he was doing but I suspect he didn't have a single clue.

"The first nine questions on the test were difficult, in fact as you may have realised too difficult for any Genin to be expected to solve. I imagine most of you quickly came to this conclusion, that you'd have to cheat if you'd have any chance of passing. The fact is the test was designed to encourage cheating, it almost demanded it," Ibiki explained the purpose of the test. I smirked at the subtly of this exam.

"Of course it would have done you little good if you didn't have someone to cheat from, so I disguised two Chūnin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you," Ibiki continued on. The Chūnin revealed themselves and I saw that Naruto had a small, yet silent, freak out moment. Before he recovered and began to brag to Hinata who was sat next to him, I could all the time he didn't have a clue about the whole thing.

"Those who were caught at it, failed. Better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily," Ibiki said, as he removed his forehead protector only to reveal a bald head that was covered in scars, burn marks and screw holes. Everyone reeled back in shock, even I was disturbed by the damage and torture that Ibiki must have gone through.

"Information. It can be the sot valuable weapon in battle, how well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission's a failure or success. There'll be time when you'll have to risk your life for it, of course you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gather from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind, disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades or the loss of a village, that's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence, cheat in order to survive. That's why those who weren't good enough were weeded out, leaving the rest of you," Ibiki explained.

"Ok. But I'm still not getting what the tenth question thing was about," The blonde girl stated.

"You're not? The tenth question is the main point of the whole exam, surely you see that," Ibiki stated. However everyone else was still confused by this, although Sakura managed to get him to explain.

"As I said before, the goal was to test you not only as individuals but as part of a squad. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could choose to play it safe and skip the question though it meant that both you and your teammates would be failed or you could try and answer it knowing if you got it wrong, you would lose your chance of ever being Chūnin. It was a no win situation, but just the sort Chūnin have to face every day," Ibiki explained.

He then proceeded to give mission situation and explained that those who thought of avoiding the risk – the ones who had dropped out – didn't deserve to be Chūnin. Because a Chūnin takes an sort of mission no matter the risk, a Chūnin is strong and always focused on the goal at hand. Ibiki congratulated us and we were passed, Naruto cheered but he was cut off when something flew in through the window.

Kunai went out and landed in the ceiling revealing the object to be a cloth that contained a woman. The woman has light brown, pupil-less eyes, and violet hair) which was styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam, which had a pocket on both sides, and complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretches from her neck down to her thighs. She wore a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a forehead protector, a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord, a wrist watch, and pale grey shin guards. She also wears a dark blue belt around her waist that connects to her skirt that has an appendage-like sash.

The cloth behind the woman declared that she was the second proctor of the exam and her first name was Anko, the rest of her name was obscured by her body

"Heads up boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating, I'll be your next proctor Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go follow me," the woman exclaimed as she thrust her fist up into the air. Nobody moved an inch, too stunned by her surprise entrance to do anything.

"You're early… again," Ibiki informed the woman. She blushed in embarrassment.

"How many are there? Ibiki you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft," Anko stated, however Ibiki held a smirk on his face.

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year," Ibiki fired back at the woman, who turned to face us.

"They sure don't look it. Trust me before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated," Anko retorted. Something about her sent a chill rushing down my spine. I wasn't the only one as Sakura seemed to be unnerved by this woman as well.

"This is going to be fun. Alright you maggots have had it easy so far but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed," Anko told us. We all filed out of the room, but I looked back at the woman and our eyes met for a split second but it was like something passed between us as I walked away.

_***Naruto* **_

The next day we stared at the scene before us shocked by the location we had meet Anko at. A metal fence encircled a large forest area and any doors going in were locked, and there was a sign saying restricted area.

"Wow nice place what is it?" Naruto asked.

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's the 44th battle training zone, but we called it… The Forest of Death," Anko replied, a smile on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 5: - Panic in the Forest

"This whole place just completely creeps me out," Sakura stated, uneasy clear in her voice. I looked at the pinkette before turning back to the forest before us and the smirking proctor in front of it.

"It should. We call it the Forest of Death for a good reason, and soon enough you'll find out why," Anko responded. Naruto impersonated the proctor and then taunted her as well, I restrained myself from slap the blonde idiot. "So, looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy," Anko said, a dangerous smile on her face. I took two steps away from Naruto in time to watch a kunai fly passed cutting open Naruto's cheek a little, she then appeared behind Naruto.

"You tough enough to handle this. You're not afraid, are you?" Anko asked, her voice eerily quiet. "Tough guys like you usually leave your blood all over this forest," Anko added on as she licked the blood off of his cheek. However she whipped out another kunai and held it back towards another ninja that was behind her, the ninja held the kunai Anko threw earlier in her… _**tongue**_. I shivered at seeing the long tongue.

"I was… just returning your kunai," The ninja spoke despite her tongue protruding from her mouth. Naruto's eyes were wide with fright as he stared at the two women behind him.

"Why thank you Grass ninja," Anko responded. Silence fell around us as all ninja present watched the scene, I could feel the tension in the air thickening by the second. "I really only recommend you stand this close behind me, if you wish to reach a premature end," Anko advised as she took the kunai from the ninja.

"My pardon, with the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair… I'm afraid I became a little excited, I meant you no harm," The ninja apologised

"Likewise," Anko agreed. The ninja walked away back to her teammates. "Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered, there must be something in the air. This is going to be fun," Anko mused. Suddenly I felt a hand grip my wrist, I whipped my head up to see Sasuke there.

"Ami put your kunai away," Sasuke told me. Blinking, I looked down to see that I had, in fact, drawn a kunai.

'When the hell did that happen?' I wondered in my mind as I tucked the blade back into my pouch.

"Sorry, reaction to the tension," I apologised. Sasuke let go of my wrist and stepped away, but his eyes remained trained on me.

"Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all," Anko stated, as she pulled out a stack of papers from her jacket. "It's just a standard consent form, before the test all of you are going to have to read over this form and sign it," Anko explained.

"What for?" Naruto asked. Anko held a smirk on her face.

"Some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility," Anko explained and she then laughed. Murmurs of panic arose from some of the candidates. "Now I'll explain what you'll be doing during this test. Here pass these out," Anko told Naruto who took the forms and began to pass them along.

"The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First I'll give you all a description of the terrain of the practice field, the 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest inside, in the centre is a locked tower located 10 km from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test, the test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls," Anko explained, as she held up a white and black scroll.

"Both of them?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. You be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. Altogether twenty six teams will be taking part in this test, so half of those teams will be going after the Heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for," Anko explained.

"Ok so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked.

"You're entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the tower," Anko answered.

"That means at the very best, half of us will fail, more if not every team is able to get both the scrolls," Sakura theorised. I nodded in agreement with what she said.

"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and one more thing the test has a time limit of, you must finish it within five days," Anko finished up.

"Five days out there!" Ino cried out. Chōji asked about food and Anko said there was plenty in the forest.

'Yeah and there's probably plenty of things willing to eat us.' I though as I accepted a consent form and handed it to another candidate. Kabuto confirmed my thoughts.

"That means with these circumstances there's no way half the teams will pass the test," Neji stated. He was quite right, it would be impossible for half the teams to pass.

"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter. So we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover. It will be a challenge indeed," Lee exclaimed.

"Completely surrounded by enemies we won't have time to rest we'll have to keep a constant watch," Sasuke added on to the previous statements.

'Sounds just like life when I was on the run from him.' I thought. After some quips from Shikamaru, Anko went on to explain ways we could be disqualified, this was if we opened the scrolls before reaching the tower, not arriving with all our teammates or without both scrolls. We were then sent off to sign the consent form.

I sat on top of a boulder, as I sighed the consent form. Looking up I saw that they were covering up the stand where we were to receive our scrolls, thus preventing anyone from knowing which team had what scroll.

"Alright everyone, we're going to start handing out scrolls," One of the members at the stand called out to us. The teams began to line up at the stall waiting for their turn, we stepped inside and were handed a Heaven scroll, I slipped it into my scroll pouch and we stood by gate 12, waiting. I noticed a yellow sign hung by the gate saying Warning, you will die.

'Well that's encouraging.' I bluntly thought as I stared into the forest, it was murky black preventing me from seeing far into the dangerous wooded area.

"Believe it. I dare you to bring it on ninja, I'll just send it right back twice as hard," Naruto bragged as he swung his fists out into the air. I looked at the giant forest before us, the air was filled to bursting with tension as we waited for the signal to be given.

"Alright heads up you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" Anko cried out and the gates swung open. We stepped inside and looked around the area.

"Well alright! Here we go guys," Naruto called out. We began to move into the forest as the canopies of the trees shrouded the area preventing a large amount of light from getting through.

A scream echoed through the forest and everyone tensed up, whilst I smirked.

"One team down, twenty-five to go," I stated as the other three looked around for danger.

"I do not like this place," Sakura stated. I had to agree, something about this forest didn't sit well with me… something about this felt off.

"Oh come on, it's nothing to be scared of. It's going to be a piece of cake," Naruto argued, confidence bubbled off of him. However he then headed over to a bush and his back was facing us. "Excuse me a second, I really got to… you know," Naruto said. Sakura then rushed over and punched his head.

"Yeah right. Get out of here! What is this a kennel? Not in front of me and Ami you don't, find a bush or something!" The angry Kunoichi yelled at the blonde who quickly darted off into the undergrowth.

"Ah man, that was a lot. I wrote my whole name," Naruto said as he came back. I noticed something off, his shuriken holster was on his left leg and the cut on his cheek was gone,

"You are such a pig! You're really disgusting sometimes, you know that," Sakura complained. However before she could say anymore Sasuke hit him, sending him back into a tree.

"Sasuke-kun it wasn't that bad. Don't you think you're going a little overboard," Sakura protested. However I narrowed my eyes and got into a fighting stance.

"Yeah what the heck was that all about?" Naruto asked but I rushed over and set a kick to his head. He dodged out the way but Sasuke yet in for another attack but Naruto jumped up into the tree area.

I followed after him and aimed a scissor kick at his head, he lunged forward but fell of the branch as a result. He landed hard on the ground and I jumped down next to Sasuke

"Better watch out Sakura, I think they've gone crazy," Naruto called out to the pinkette behind us.

"Yeah you wish. We just struck before you could," Sasuke retorted. He then charged at the blonde with a kunai in hand.

"Sasuke-kun no!" Sakura called out trying to stop the raven haired boy from attacking the blonde.

"Alright then bring it on," Naruto challenged as he charged, also armed with a kunai. They clashed before Sasuke forced him back, I pulled out some shuriken and threw them at the blonde which he barely dodge.

"Sasuke-kun, Ami-san, what are you do?" Sakura asked. We didn't avert our eyes from the blonde making sure to keep track on his movements

"Take a good look at him," Sasuke instructed. Sakura did but she didn't seem to see anything unusual. "Talk! What have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Sakura and Naruto seemed confused by this question.

"What? What do you mean? I am Naruto," Naruto protested.

"Then what happened to the cut on your cheek?" I asked. 'Naruto' seemed to freeze up as if he didn't know he had a cut.

"I guess you didn't know that the real Naruto got a cut on his face before this test. You also have your shuriken holster on your left leg not your right, but the real Naruto is right handed," Sasuke explained. "Your transformation skill is worse than Naruto's. Tell me who you are!" Sasuke demanded.

'Naruto' was engulfed in smoke and the imposters real form was reveal to be a man in an all white suit, a bandage over his eyes but with holes so he could see and a breathing apparatus over his mouth with a Rain Village forehead protector tied around his head.

"Alright you got me, so what. I'm still going to take your scroll, now hand it over or else," The ninja demanded. I smirked as Sakura also withdrew a kunai. "So which one of you has it?" The ninja asked. None of us gave an answer and the ninja sighed. "Fine then. I guess I'll just have to take you both out," The ninja bragged as he charged towards us.

"Give your best shot," I challenged the Genin as I jumped up. I threw the kunai at him causing him to veer off course, I landed and formed the seals for Horse, Boar, Rabbit, Dog and Monkey. "Lighting Style – Discharge!" I cried out and lighting shot forth from my body striking out towards him.

"What the hell?" He cried out as he barely managed to dodge the attacking lightening. Sasuke then unleashed a fire attack to accompany the lightening, the Genin avoided the attack and jumped up clashing with Sasuke in the air. He then darted off into the trees and both me and Sasuke followed after him, at which point I heard Naruto cry out.

Sasuke threw his kunai down to the bound Naruto freeing him, the Genin then threw knives at us. I pushed Sasuke down but we were met with a paper bomb attack, I was blasted away from Sasuke but I managed to slam the kunai into a tree to slow my descent.

The Genin appeared behind Sasuke, but Naruto appeared and threw the kunai at him, causing the Genin to run. Sasuke caught the kunai with his chakra and threw if at the fleeing Genin before jumping up after him, and he managed to stab him.

The Genin fled, having come with out back up, I pushed off the tree and landed smoothly on the ground. We moved out into a clearing and settled down to rest.

"That proves we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way of knowing that each of us is who we say we are and not some imposter using a transformation jutsu," Sasuke stated. The rest of us agreed with this decision.

"Alright, so what do we do?" Sakura asked. We all looked at Sasuke waiting for his idea.

"We need a password," Sasuke responded. It was a good idea, I just hoped that no one was watching us.

"What kind of password?" Naruto asked. We all paid close attention to Sasuke, not wanting to miss anything.

"A secret one, something known only to the three of us and don't trust anyone who doesn't know it, no matter what," Sasuke replied. "Ok listen closely because I only want to say this once. The question will be when does a ninja strike and the response is, a ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night that is the moment for a ninja to strike. Got it?" Sasuke told us. I nodded and Sakura also nodded however Naruto wanted Sasuke to repeat it again, but Sasuke refused.

I tossed the scroll to Sasuke and we stood up, however suddenly the wind became sharper as it slit Naruto's other cheek and then a large gust of wind began to blow, rushing to our area. I braced myself against the howling wind but I still felt my body began to lift up, the wind grew a stronger and I was blasted away form the others, I grabbed a kunai and slammed it into the tree waiting until the wind died down.

I climbed full onto the branch, looking over I saw that the wind had sliced through my skin, causing the small cuts to weep blood. I brushed it off, deciding to handle it later, I needed to find the others. A quite cry caught my ears and I rushed in its direction only to see Naruto be swallowed by a big, slimy, scale, snake. I shivered and crouched down on the branch as the reptile began to slither off.

'Bugs I can handle, monsters I can handle but snakes. Why did it have to snakes?' I mentally cringed, before following after the reptile. I knew I would have to save Naruto before he was digested but I could only do that once the snake stopped moving.

As I followed the snake I kept an eye on the bulge in its' body, as that allowed me to track Naruto's position. I could also here Naruto constantly demand for the snake to let him go.

The creature finally stopped moving and began to fall asleep, I withdrew my summoning scroll and summoned my katana. I took a hold of the blade and began to focus my chakra and I let it flow into the blade wrapping around my weapon then my chakra turned into lighting and I had my Lighting Katana in my hand.

I stood up and jumped down falling straight towards the reptile, I prepared my sword gripping the handle tight in my hand. Suddenly the area were Naruto was began to inflate, narrowing my eyes I held my sword out to the side, when I neared the snake and the bulge inflated even more I spun my body the lighting and the blade sliced through the scales and skin and due to the inflation a small blast of air pushed me back.

I landed on the ground and looked up only to see, thousands and thousands of Naruto. All of them were covered in a green slimy fluid, I looked around trying to find the real one, however the only probably was that Shadow Clones were physical and not illusions.

"Naruto where's the real you!" I called out. One of many rushed up to me whilst the others disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey Ami," Naruto greeted, a goofy smile on his face. I could only assume the sight of my unique katana was enough to convince him that it was really me, I nodded before allowing my weapon to disappear.

"Naruto we have to get back to the others. I think that wind was meant to separate us," I told him. Naruto's eyes widened before he nodded and we took off using the trees as a vantage point to make finding our friends much easier.

"STAY AWAY!" A voice cried out. I landed on the branch and looked in the direction the voice came from.

"That's Sasuke's voice," Naruto said. I narrowed my eyes, I had never heard his voice reach such a hysterical pitch, I was worried about him.

"Let's go, I think he's in trouble," I told him. We went after the voice following it until we landed on a branch and looked down at the scene before us.

Sakura was on a branch much lower than us and she was staring at the view in front of us. A snake lay dead in the crook of tree made by a branch and truck, the female grass ninja from earlier was moving like a snake, winding her way around the branch… heading straight for Sasuke who was stock still with fright.

I whipped out some shuriken and kunai, then along with Naruto we tossed the weapons at the snake woman. They landed in the branch shortly in front of her stopping her progress, all of them looked up at us confusion, shock and happiness etched on to their faces.

"Look like we came just in time," Naruto called down to the group. I glared down at the snake lady not taking my eyes off of her.

"Naruto! Ami!" Sakura called out, relief and joy etched deeply into her voice.

"Oh and by the way. What was that password again?" Naruto asked. I wanted to roll my eyes at Naruto's ignorance sometimes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 6: - Counterattack!

I stared down at the snake woman, making sure I could track her movements. The tension and fear in the air was thick, I had to wonder what this person had done to them to cause this level of fear in my teammates.

"Ok so anyway what is the password again?" Naruto asked. I sighed wondering if the blonde could not see that we had a problematic situation.

"Forget it, I know it's you. You made it," Sakura called up to us. I re-averted my attention to the snake woman, my hand twitched slightly waiting for someone to make a move.

"Naruto, Ami, get out of here! What are you thinking? You don't know what you're up against! Hurry go now while you still can!" Sasuke yelled at us. Neither of us moved an inch, but Naruto didn't look happy about it.

"So Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend. Well done," The woman congratulated Naruto. I glared at the woman, as she smirked at the two of us, Naruto had a thoughtful look on his face.

'So she sent the snake to swallow Naruto, and more than likely that wind to separate our team. What does she want with us?' I wondered in my mind.

"Ok, ok so I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that. So you just better slither on back into your hole, you snake lady before I make a pair of shoes out of you," Naruto called down to the ninja. She wasn't phased by the threat as she remained in her coiled position.

"You can have it," Sasuke called out. I looked at the boy completely confused by what he meant. The snake looked pleased as if she had just caught her favourite prey, whilst Sakura looked panicked. Sasuke reached behind himself and pulled out our Heaven scroll and then held it up to her.

"The scroll, right, that's what you want. Alright then, take it and leave us in peace," Sasuke called out to the ninja. I was shocked, wondering what the hell had happened to the Sasuke I knew, the one that I met on my first day here, the one who was always calm and confident.

"Sasuke are you crazy for what? Were just going to hand the scroll over to the enemy. No way! What's wrong with you?" Naruto protested. I had to agree with the boy something was wrong with this.

"Shut up and stay out of it!" Sasuke retaliated. Anger rose in his voice as he glared at the two of us

"Very wise, very sensible. Sometimes the helpless prey – If they are to save their own skins – realise that their only hope is to distract the predator with something even more precious," The woman stated. I scowled at the ninja, feeling the desire to rip her head off rising inside of me, Sasuke made the motion to throw the scroll but Naruto jumped down and grabbed the scroll in mid-air, he landed on a tree and pushed off of it landing in between the two ninjas.

"Stop being the hero Naruto. Stay out of this and leave it to m-," Sasuke began to yelled, until Naruto landed punch in his face causing the raven to fly back but he managed to correct himself and land on another branch. I jumped down and landed next to Naruto, as we both stared at Sasuke. "Ah stupid fool, you don't know what you're doing," Sasuke insulted Naruto. The blonde's body was shaking as he drew in deep breaths.

"I may not know the password, but I know who I am. You're the one I'm not so sure about. How do we know you're who you say you are?" Naruto questioned.

"What do you mean? It's him don't be so stupid," Sakura protested. I scowled at the pinkette thinking that she of all people would know what we were talking about.

"What sort of nonsense is this? It's me you loser," Sasuke also protested. I averted my gaze back to the Uchiha as I stared at him.

"Liar, liar. You may look like him, you may even sound just like him. But there's no way you're the Sasuke I know. I don't care how tough of a fight you've been through, surrendering, giving up the scroll when did Sasuke become a coward. You keep saying I don't understand what's going on but I do, you've choked that's what it is," Naruto yelled at Sasuke.

"Sadly I'd have to agree with Naruto, you're not Sasuke. I may have only been a part of this team for a short time but the Sasuke I trained against would never give up," I argued. The other two were stunned into silence

"Sad but true," the woman said as she unwound herself and stood up. She pushed her sleeve up to reveal a tattoo on her left arm, it had pincer like shapes near the wrist with a line looping around her arm above it. "It doesn't matter as far as the scroll goes I could simply kill you and take it," The woman added. She then bit her lip and drew a line of blood on the marking, my eyes widened in fright upon seeing the marking and the action.

"Let's see you try!" Naruto yelled at her. He charged at her kunai drawn.

"Naruto come back!" I cried out to him.

"Don't! Naruto no!" Sasuke echoed my cry.

"Summoning Jutsu," Snake lady said, and performed the hand sighs for the jutsu. A massive wind began to blow, just like before, as another gigantic snake appeared. The snake went forward and attempted to crush Naruto, but be managed to dodge out of the way.

"What a tasty little meal you'll make for him. Careful he likes to play with his food," Snake lady warned. Then the snake attempted to crunch Naruto again, I darted over and pulled the blonde out of the way, the branch we stood on broke and we both fell down and landed hard on the branch, I managed to stay awake but Naruto was knocked out.

'Shit, what do I do?' I cursed in my mind, then Naruto started to fall down. I steadied myself and launched down after him. However before I reached him Naruto righted himself and slammed his foot into the snake.

"Yeah! Eat this!" Naruto yelled out as he attacked. His punch actually forced the monstrous creature a little bit, suddenly I sensed something was different, it was like a shift in the air as if something had changed.

Naruto then began to slam his fists into the snake again and it actually forced the snake to go down. I stared shocked by the immense strength that Naruto was displaying, I knew he had great power but this was unbelievable. The snake tossed him back but Naruto just went back in for more, however the snake's master blew something that looked like fire at Naruto which blinded him a little and forced him to fall down.

"Now then let's see how well you do Sasuke," Snake lady called out. I charged over and landed in front of him, I thrust my left hand down and shaped it like a cup and I steadied my wrist with my right hand. I began to mould my chakra together when the snake lunged for us.

However instead of been swallowed, Naruto had stopped the snake from eating us. I relax a little and moved so that Sasuke could see around me, I stared at Naruto who was breathing heavily his arms spread out, a kunai in each hand, blocking the snake's mouth from moving.

"Hey kid you're not hurt are you? You scaredy cat," Naruto taunted as he looked up. I saw that his normal bright blue eyes were now a blood red shade, his pupils were slits and his lips were lined black. "Standing there frozen like a frightened rabbit and letting a girl protect you, no way you're not the Sasuke I know," Naruto insulted. Suddenly the snake lady's tongue wrapped around him and pulled him up.

"Leave him alone!" I cried out and jumped up a kunai in my hand. However snake lady threw the same stuff at me as she did at Naruto and it blinded my eyes. I fell to the ground as I furiously rubbed my eyes to clear them up.

"Sasuke, hurry, do something," I heard Sakura called out. I could only assume something bad was happening. I cleared my eyes and looked up in time to see Naruto being tossed back into a tree, I threw my kunai at the boy when he began to fall and it pinned his jacket to the tree, it was accompanied by a kunai from Sakura.

"Sasuke what's wrong with you?" Sakura question the boy. However he was stock still not even moving. I gritted my teeth and finally snapped, my hand lashed out and seized Sasuke shirt dragging him so that we were nose to nose.

"Snap ot of it you coward, Naruto just saved your life and you're still going to give up. He's right, you're not the Sasuke we know," I hissed at the boy. Unlike most people when I got angrier, I only got quieter. "You don't deserve to be called Uchiha," I spat and dropped the boy. He snapped his head up and froze, I could only guess that my little happy façade had dropped and my eyes were now cold and lifeless.

Sasuke lowered his head again and his body began to shake, however something seemed to stir in him as he raised his head again and the Sharingan shone bright and proud in his eyes.

I smirked and turned to face the snake and its' master, eager to slaughter both of them… I really didn't like snakes. The tension in the air began to thicken as we stared down at our opponent and she stared back, a look of glee in her wicked eyes, a smile appeared on her lips and then the snake disappeared in a puff of smoke and the real battle began.

Sasuke pulled out a kunai and placed it in his mouth and he began to rush forward, a look of determination on his face. I withdrew some shuriken and I began rush up the other side of the ninja. She sent out wind blast but we avoided it and launched our weapons at the same time.

Snake lady managed to dodge the kunai but one of my shuriken imbedded itself into her arm, she winched but didn't fall as she ripped out the object. We then rushed over and Sasuke lashed out with kicks from the air and flipped over to her other side, I placed my hand on the ground and swung out my leg, she was able to dodge but Sasuke launched a kick which forced her off balance sending her spinning across the branch.

Snake lady rose back up and she began to engage the two of us in Taijutsu, we blocked each others strikes. She eventually jumped up and landed behind us, I glanced back only to see her move faster than I could see, I stood with my back to Sasuke so as to protect him.

I felt him grab my wrist and he pulled us out of the way and then launched a fire attack at her. The roaring orange flames dissipated after a short time but the bark below us began to break, I quickly charged lighting into my fist and I struck the ground causing the attacker to dodge off course, we then jumped back as she came up out of the branch.

Snake lady launched another wind attack at us and we dodged out of the way, Sasuke went up and dove down towards her. He seized a hold of her and began to pull her down to another branch, they landed with a forceful impact, which broke the bark, but Sasuke remained unharmed… the same couldn't be said for Snake lady.

I jumped over to where he was and we looked at our opponent, however the body began to shake before it eventually turned to mud.

"Substitution!" Sasuke cried out. Then weapons began to fly at us, we dodge out of the way. I managed to land on another branch whilst Sasuke used wires to swing around to another side, I used the tree to rush over to the other side only to find Sasuke on the floor with our opponent opposite him.

"What a disappointment you turned out to be? Your ancestors weep, the Uchiha clan should thank me for killing you. Silly little worm," Snake lady taunted. I jumped over and I slammed my leg into her face, forcing her to stumble back. She glared at me, but before anything could happened a small explosion occurred and she was forced down, Sasuke then flipped up to his feet and we both jumped back.

Sasuke then launched shuriken which had wires attached to them at Snake lady, the weapons wrapped around her as Sasuke manipulated them. We hand landed on a branch away form the woman, I had put some distance between me and Sasuke waiting to see the next attack.

"Incredible! A Sharingan windmill triple attack," Snake lady cried out, obviously recognising the technique being used. Sasuke continued to tie the woman up and he then pulled on the wires and he managed to trap the woman against a tree trunk.

Sasuke held the wires in his mouth and he performed hand signs, then a large blazing fire engulfed his form and it coursed down the wires and blazing through the tree that the woman was trapped against.

"Incredible. Sasuke's stronger than I thought," I whispered in awe as I watched the flames burn away at the trapped ninja. Her screams could be heard above the raging fires.

The fire burned out and the tree was blackened, the woman hung limp in the strings. I glanced at Sasuke and I saw that he was weak, footsteps echoed behind me and I knew that Sakura was coming towards us.

"Sasuke you did it," Sakura congratulated as we both headed over to him. I placed a hand on his shoulder and I smiled at him.

"I was wrong, you are worthy of the Uchiha name," I told the boy. He smirked, not responding Sakura attempted to comfort him but something caught my attention. A creaking sound echoed and I snapped my head up looking at the attacker as she freed herself and walked forward.

Suddenly all of our bodies froze up and we were forced to the ground, I glanced down and began to force myself to reach down to my weapons pouch, even though it was a slow process.

"No impossible," Sasuke rejected. He was resisting the pull as he managed to remain standing, I was crouched whilst Sakura was on her knees.

"Such mastery of the Sharingan at so young an age. You're a true Uchiha after all," Snake lady spoke, but as she talked her voice began to change turning into a male voice. I froze upon hearing the tone, I turned my head in their direction and saw that the woman's face had peeled away to reveal another face beneath it.

"Yes you'll do nicely. You are defiantly his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's," The snake continued. I glared at the being before us as I continued to try and reach for my weapons.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sasuke questioned the being. He chuckled and tossed our Heaven scroll into the air and held it out towards us.

"My name is Orochimaru but as to what I want, that will have to wait until we meet again. Which won't happen until after you finish this test with the best score of all," The being said, as he began to burn the scroll away.

"The scroll!" Sakura cried out in panic. I gritted my teeth and I managed to clasp the weapon.

"First you'll have to defeat the Hidden Sound ninja who serve me," Orochimaru instructed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you're finished then why don't you just beat it, if we never meet again it'll be too soon," Sakura called out to the being.

"Oh he and I will meet again," Orochimaru promised. He formed a hand seal and then his neck stretched forward. I began to push myself to move faster, as I began to raise to my legs, Orochimaru drove his fangs into Sasuke's neck, when he withdrew a seal that looked like three tomoe appeared above the bite mark, Sasuke then began to groan in pain and he gripped his neck tightly.

"Sasuke! You! What have you done to Sasuke?" Sakura cried out to the monster. I finally managed to throw a weapon at him, however he caught it between his fingers, a smirk on his lips.

"I just gave him a little gift, very soon Sasuke will seek me out and desire my power. In the mean time I enjoyed the demonstration of the powers you already posses," Orochimaru said as he sunk into the ground. He then turned to face me and we locked gazes for a moment before he disappeared.

Sasuke screamed in pain and he eventually collapsed to his knees and he then fell unconscious. Sakura began to panic but I seized her shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Sakura keep it together. They're both unconscious and we don't know for how long, we have to protect them during this vulnerable state," I told the pinkette. She nodded, I stood up and rushed over to the tree Naruto hung from, I took a hold of the boy's jacket and then I pulled out the kunai. I jumped back over to Sakura and told her to follow me.

She carried Sasuke as I held Naruto, we eventually found a clearing with a tree that held an natural alcove. We sent the boys down and I removed their forehead protector and felt their temperatures.

"Sakura their warm," I told the girl. She came over and felt it herself and nodded, she then grabbed the four water canisters we had.

"I'll go grab some water," Sakura said. I looked up and nodded at the girl, she began to walk away when I grabbed her arm stopping her.

"Don't wander off too far. I need you to help me protect them," I told the girl. Her lips were set in a thin line and she nodded, I let her go and she set off again, canisters gripped tightly in her hands,

Once Sakura had vanished form my eyesight, I turned back to the two unconscious boys, I climbed over Sasuke and knelt by Naruto. I unzipped his jacket and pulled up his shirt, a faint seal was still visible on his stomach, it had eight seals, separated into pairs of four, formed into a circle surrounding a whirlpool like marking, around the seal were five little ember shaped seals.

I held my hand over the seal and I sent a small spark towards the seal, it bounced of and turned a bright red shade before it disappeared. I looked down in shock at the blonde.

'So that's why I understand you, I've meant someone like you before. You're a Jinchūriki.' I realised in my mind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 7: - Blossoming Flowers

Sakura slept soundly in the alcove as we watched over the boys, I went through my kenjutsu motions, not wanting to waste away. Both of the boys were still unconscious after our ordeal with Orochimaru, the day had come and the sunlight was barely able to enter the shrouded area.

Me and Sakura had been taking shifts, watching for threats. Currently Sakura was resting but she was nervous worried that something bad would happen… I couldn't blame her I was also nervous about anyone attacking us and potentially harming the boys.

I rubbed my eyes as they began to droop with exhaustion, my Insomnia was starting up again, preventing me from getting any sort of sleep. I stopped practicing and walked over to the boys, I grabbed a cloth and wet it with water Sakura had gathered, I squeezed out the excess water and placed the cloth on Sasuke's forehead, replacing the dried out one.

The raven gasped and his body trembled due to the pain he was feeling, I looked at the seal on his neck and scowled. Sakura gasped and I saw that she was awake, her head whipped around as if she was looking for someone, her chest heaved as she took in air rapidly.

"Sakura, it's alright we're safe," I reassured the girl. She looked at me and slowly calmed down as she nodded her head, suddenly something rustled behind us. I turned and we took out weapons, Sakura began to shake as she held her kunai, my body was instead tense, the muscles coiled tightly.

Sakura turned and out of the bush came a… squirrel. We both gave dumb founded looks, I let out a sigh before noticing the squirrel was running towards us. I quickly threw out my kunai and Sakura joined in the blades scared off the little rodent.

I looked around, feeling as if we were being watched but I couldn't see anyone, although they could just be hiding themselves from us. I went over and pulled out the kunai, I walked back over to Sakura and I handed the girl her weapon.

"Thanks Ami," Sakura whispered. I could tell that the girl was worried, she hadn't been able to rest since the attack. I clasped a hand on her shoulder and I gave her a smile.

"You have great potential Sakura, you simply need the right drive to unlock it," I told the girl. She looked at me confused by my sentence, I stood up and rest me body against the bark of the tree.

Time passed by and Sakura was struggling to stay awake, I frowned wondering why she wouldn't just rest. I could handle being the lookout for a few more hours, I had a lot more stamina than she did.

"Some lookouts, you're both half asleep," A voice called. I twisted around to see that the Sound ninja were here, I gritted my teeth in annoyance at their presence. "At least you don't have to keep watch anymore. What's the point after we've already found you? Now wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him!" The leader ninja demanded.

"What do you want here?" Sakura asked as she stood up. I stood up along side her and I stared down at the ninjas.

"We mean, what do you _**really**_ want? We know that Orochimaru's calling the shots from the shadows," I told the ninjas. They were shocked by the revelation, I gripped a shuriken in my hand, watching the three for any movements.

"What's that strange bruise behind Sasuke neck? You're behind this to aren't you? Now you want to fight him when he can't defend himself," Sakura questioned. They seemed confused obviously not understanding what we were talking about.

"What in the world could he be thinking?" The lead ninja muttered under his breath.

"I can't stay quite after hearing you talk to us like that. First I'm going to kill these girls and then I'm going to kill Sasuke," The other boy taunted as he stood up. I repressed a chuckle at his boast, wanting to rip him a part.

"Wait Zaku!" The lead ninja ordered. The boy argued but the lead ninja then walked forward and bent down. "It's so obvious, this is the colour of dirt that's recently been dug up, and this kind of grass doesn't grow in a place like this. You know if you're going to lay a trap there's no point unless you make it actually hidden," The leader explained.

"Ha you two are just a joke. You threw your kunai so that squirrel wouldn't spring the trap you set," Zaku taunted.

"Now we kill them," The leader stated and they charged. I smirked and began to run up the tree whilst Sakura launched the real trap, a large, branch covered tree truck.

"A log!" I heard Zaku cry out. I reach a point and I twisted my body around and sprung off of the tree towards where I heard the ninja.

"They planted a trap above. Watch out!" The leader called out. Suddenly the log shattered before me. "Foolish girls you really have no talent as ninja. Someone like you should make a more of an effort don't you think," The leader taunted. I smirked I was above them and they hadn't seen me, I pulled out weapons and tossed them at the unsuspecting ninja.

"Look up," I called out, The leader turned at the sound and his eye widened as he saw the weapons racing towards them, he thrust his arm upwards. Suddenly a cry went out and a blur caught his arm and forced all three ninja away from Sakura. I landed on the ground by the alcove and looked up to see Rock Lee standing in front of us.

"Wh-what's he doing?" Sakura asked. I shrugged in response not quite sure why the Taijutsu user was present

"Looks like you also need to make more of an effort," Lee taunted. I was a little relieved that someone else was here but I was worried that Lee wouldn't be able to truly combat these people with only Taijutsu.

"Who are you?" The leader asked.

"I am the handsome devil of the Leaf Village and my name is Rock Lee," Lee introduced. I raised an eyebrow at his introduction as it was awfully odd.

"What are you doing here Lee?" Sakura asked. I also wanted to know that answer.

"I will always appear any time and any where that you are in trouble Sakura," Lee declared. He then removed a squirrel – the same one form earlier – from his shoulder. "This was really all thanks to you little one. But know it is time for you to run along," Lee told the animal, which ran into the alcove.

"But right now on this test I'm your enemy," Sakura tried to explain to the boy. I carefully watched both teams wondering if this would turn into a three way battle.

"Sakura I already told you, I will protect you until I die," Lee declared. I sighed happy to have some back up for this fight

"Yes thank you, Rock Lee," Sakura accepted.

"It looks like I have no choice. Zaku I'll let you have Sasuke, I'll take care of these three," The leader complained and he tossed and Earth scroll back to his teammate.

"The guy with the bushy eyebrow is pretty good at Taijutsu. Look like I get to have some fun," The leader stated and he then charged forward. Sakura threw a kunai at him causing hi mto dodge this allowed Lee to reach into the Earth and pull up a tree root which blocked the in coming attack.

"I am positive there is some kind of trick to your attack, therefore I will not waste my time trying to dodge it. After all I have seen your jutsu before," Lee announced. I began to step forward, prepared to fight when a hand fell on my shoulder, preventing me from moving forward.

"You are exhausted and must rest. I will protect Sakura, you and your teammates," Lee persuaded. I glanced back at him and I nodded stepping back, I didn't like letting other people fight my battles but at this moment I need to regain my strength.

Lee then began to unwrap the bandages around his hands, I could only assume he would use the technique that Guy stopped him from using on Sasuke, or a variant of it at least. The leader began to charge again but Lee disappeared, shocking the Sound ninja.

"He disappeared!" He cried out. He was then kicked into the air by Lee attacking his chin, Lee then used Dancing Leaf shadow to get behind the ninja. The bandages took a life of their own and began to wrap around the ninja, Lee then turned them upside down and they both began to spin at a high speed pace.

"Primary Lotus!" Lee declared. They impacted onto the ground and Lee leapt away just in time to prevent injury to himself. The dust began to clear and I saw that the ninja was lodged in the ground but it looked like the ground had been puffed up.

"Got you just in time. That impact could have been much worse for you," Zaku stated. Lee landed in front of us whilst the lead ninja pulled himself out of the ground.

"What this cannot be!" Lee cried out, disbelieving that the ninja had been completely unharmed by the assault.

"That is a frightening jutsu. It almost took me out even though I landed on this soft dirt," The leader admitted. I saw that Lee was breathing heavily, the technique had obviously taken a lot of his energy. "And now it's my turn," The leader stated as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal the grey object on his arm.

He charged at Lee, who was still exhausted, Lee dodge the physical attack but it seemed that something happened to him.

"Your jutsu is indeed fast but ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound," The leader explained. Lee collapsed to the ground, his breathing still ragged. "Effort by itself does nothing, now watch were going to show you something called the wall," The leader taunted. I scowled at the ninjas, angered that they would talk down to someone like that. Lee slumped over and he began to cough, he then raised both his arms and covered his left ear.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this little gadget I wear. You might be able to dodge my blows but you can't get away from it. I don't need to strike you with my fists, I can hit you with the power of sound," The leader explained. I raised an eyebrow at that, and I looked at the object of his arm. "What makes it possible for the era to hear things, what is sound really?" The leader asked.

"Vibrations," I replied. My strength was coming back so I could take over the fight, I just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

"Give the little lady a prize. Yes the vibrations of molecules in the air creates a sound wave. These vibrations are collected by the ear, then directed by the outer ear canal to your ear drum the rest, as they say, is anatomy. What interests me is the organs of your inner ear, the ones that control your sense of balance, you ability to move. Feeling a little dizzy, nauseous, that right best if you don't even try to stand up for a while," The leader explained and taunted at the same time.

"You see buddy that old fashion Taijutsu stuff won't work against us. Not that you're not pretty good at it, it's just that what's the point compared to our jutsu that stuff's totally yesterday's news. See I can manipulate ultra sonic waves and air pressure, I can do things you've never even dreamed off. I can obliterate boulders or make the ground itself as soft as a feather cushion. Face it little man you're up against the jutsu of the future," Zaku bragged and he opened his hands. In the centre of his palms were small holes and out of these holes gushed air that I could see due to the high pressure that was exerted.

"Now then little girls it's your turn," The leader declared and he charged for us. I began to form hand seals when suddenly Lee appeared in front of us, he attempted to attack again but his distorted balance weakened him. "Not quite as effective as before is it. Still it's impressive that you can still move at all, we'll have to do something about that," The leader taunted. He went to attack Lee but and Lee raised his arm to his ear, blocking the ninja's physical attack but the sound attack still got through, hurting Lee again.

"STOP IT!" Sakura screamed at them. I looked at Lee as the Taijutsu fighter clutched his ear in pain.

"Lee-san!" I cried out, as he collapsed. I looked at the Sound ninja who had smug expressions on their faces. "That's it, I'm going to kill you," I hissed. I rushed forward and lsammed my leg into the leader's stomach forcing him back.

Zaku raised his arms and fired at me, I formed the hands signs and I launched a Phoenix Flower attack at him, the air caused the flames to burn brighter. But they were eventually put out, however I had used the flames to disguise weapons that were unhampered by the attack as the fire had swallowed the wind, I had also appeared behind the leader and I attempted to disable his right arm but he dodged.

I flipped out of his range and he glared at me, I saw that the girl of the group then charged but went around me heading for Sakura and Lee. I began to rush back to protect her but I was suddenly seized and held against the leader his arm locked around my neck but one of my hands as attempting to push it away, my other hand was pinned by his other arm.

"Can't let you form any more hands signs now can I? You have some skill but your friend his another story," The leader taunted. I looked up to see Sakura threw some kunai and shuriken at us but Zaku got in front at used the air to blow the attacks, then the girl seized Sakura by her hair and forced her to the ground.

The girl had very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end, and black eyes. She wore a forehead protector, a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket, and snake patterned pants and scarf.

"My, my, what soft and shiny hair, but you know what. If you a little less time shampooing and a little more time practicing your jutsu, you might not in this fix," The girl taunted as she shook Sakura about. I tried to get out of the trap but I didn't have the leverage to escape. "Hey Zaku I know what would be fun. Let's make Miss Beauty Queen and Little Miss Doll watch as you finish off that Sasuke guy," The girl suggested.

"Why not? Sounds like fun to me," Zaku agreed and began to walk forward. Sakura attempted to struggle but the girl held her fast, then Sakura began to cry.

"Damn it all Sakura, snap out of it! You're the only one who can save us, you're a Kunoichi right, so act like it!" I yelled at the pinkette and she snapped her head up to face me.

"Hum. Like she can do any thing, she's pathetic," The girl retorted. Sakura then pulled out a kunai and held it upwards, I looked at the girl confused as to what she would do. "Come on, it's pointless, that won't work on me," The girl taunted.

"It's not meant for you," Sakura stated. Then she reached back and cut her hair, freeing herself from the girls grip. A fire burned in her green eyes, I smirked seeing that Sakura was finally getting her act together.

"Kin finish her!" Zaku cried out. The girl pulled out some senbon and attacked but Sakura had used substitution to dodge, then a kunai came towards me and the leader. I threw up my leg and used my chakra to catch the kunai, I then spun my leg backwards and stabbed the leader in his leg causing him to loosen his grip, I slipped out and after I plucked the kunai from my foot I threw it at the leader.

I looked over to see Sakura, bleeding, heading straight towards Zaku, she stabbed his arm with a kunai and then bit down on his other arm holding him there. All of us remained frozen stunned by Sakura's actions, I was surprised at her tactics, since I had never seen someone fight an opponent by biting them.

Zaku continually beat Sakura, causing her face to bleed, and eventually forced her off, I snapped out of my shocked state and I ran over to her, I knelt down by her side and I pulled her close to me as I took out some shuriken.

"Now you're going to pay," Zaku declared as he pointed his hands at us. I palced the kunai in my teeth and I began to form hand signs. "Say so long kids," Zaku told us. I was about to execute my technique when suddenly Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji appeared in front of us. "Heh. So what's this, the second string," Zaku taunted.

"Ino?" Sakura asked. I blinked in shock to see the three of them here… defending us.

"Surprised. I swore I'd never let you show me up didn't I," Ino responded. I didn't both prying into what they meant.

"These Leaf Village worms will be sorry hey squirmed they're way into something that doesn't concern them," The leader stated. This statement obviously terrified Chōji.

"Are you two crazy? What are we doing here? These guys are bad news man," Chōji protested, in fear.

"Don't look at me it was Ino's idea. But what are we supposed to do, just sit back and let a girl do all the fighting," Shikamaru shot back at Chōji. This caused Ino to start to laugh uneasily.

"Sorry for dragging you both into this," Ino apologised. "But we are a three man squad right, all for one and one for all," Ino added on. I stood back up but I was shaky, I wondered if I should use _that_ jutsu to help.

"Yeah what's meant to happen will," Shikamaru stated. I was surprised to see him here most of all given his lazy attitude.

"This isn't teamwork, I call this suicide," Chōji stated. He then attempted to pull away but Shikamaru held tight to his scarf. "Let me out of here," Chōji begged but Shikamaru refused and told him to cut it out.

"Better a live sheep than a dead lion, right fatso," Zaku taunted. Suddenly the air thickened with tension instantly, I was confused by this at least until Chōji froze up and he fell, almost deadly, silent.

"Did I just hear that right? What did that guy just say?" Chōji asked, his voice eerily calm. I noticed that both of his teammates looked incredibly nervous, especially Shikamaru. "You want to try saying that again?" Chōji asked.

"I said, you're smart to get out while you can, fatty," Zaku taunted. Suddenly Chōji whipped around to face the ninjas.

"Who are you calling fat, I'm just a little chubby ok!" Chōji yelled at Zaku. Then his chakra became so intense that I could see it, he also yelled something I couldn't identify but. "That does it, now this is personnel. It's a fight to the death between Leaf and Sound," Chōji declared. Me and Sakura shared a confused glance before turning back to the confrontation

"Good job, thanks a lot. Now we got to live with him," Shikamaru sarcastically thanked Zaku.

"Don't worry it won't be for long," Zaku retorted. I glanced back and I saw that Sasuke was twitching in pain and faint purple light streamed off of him.

"Sakura, Ami, you're teammates are down, look after them," Ino told us. Sakura agre but I began to walk forward.

"I can still fight," I protested. A sigh escaped Shikamaru and he locked eyes with me.

"Yeah maybe, but you're far too exhausted and it'll be a drag if we have to save your butt whilst you're out there," Shikamaru argued. I looked at the boy and I had to agree, I couldn't get in their way especially when my team way in danger.

"Ok Team Ino, let's show them who's boss," Ino told her teammates. "Formation Ino!" Ino cried out.

"Shika," Shikamaru added on.

"Cho," Chōji finished up.

"Ok take it away Chōji," Ino told the chubby boy.

"My pleasure. Expansion Jutsu," Chōji said. His body then expanded until it resembled a giant ball. "Followed by Leaf Style Taijutsu," Chōji stated. His arms, legs and head suddenly tucked inside his body and chakra plumes gushed out. "Human Boulder Jutsu!" Chōji cried out and he then went rolling towards the Sound ninja.

"You got to be kidding. Maybe I'm suppose to laugh myself to death," Zaku taunted. "Slicing Sound wave," Zaku called out and his wind attack slammed into Chōji, however they ended with a stand still as neither gain an advantage over the other, even when Zaku increased the strength. Then Chōji jumped into the air and came spinning down towards Zaku.

The leader attempted to save him but Shikamaru was able to trap him by controlling his shadow. Chōji came crashing down and almost crushed Zaku if he hadn't dodged in time.

"What is it? Why are you just standing there like that?" Kin asked, until she noticed that what Shikamaru did, their leader was forced to copy, due to the fact that Shikamaru was able to control the leader's shadow by using his own.

"It's some kind of paralysis jutsu," The leader hissed out through gritted teeth.

"Ino I'll leave the girl to you," Shikamaru informed the blonde girl.

"Ok you got it. Just take care of my body whilst I'm gone," Ino responded. "Ninja Art – Mind Transfer Jutsu," Ino called out and she thrust her arms forward, her thumb, index and middle fingers making a circle. Then Ino collapsed and Shikamaru caught her before she fell to the ground.

Zaku was still being hounded by Chōji however when he called out to Kin, it was revealed that Ino had taken control of the Kunoichi's body. Ino-Kin then proceed to threaten the girl if her Teammates didn't comply, however I knew that something was off when they seemed to be unfazed by the threat.

"What is it? What are they up to?" Sakura asked. Then Zaku raised his arm and fired an attack at Ino-Kin, the attack hit and it managed to hit both Ino-Kin and Chōji forcing the two of them back and doing harm to both Kunoichis.

We were all shocked by the blatant disregard these two had for the life of their teammate, someone they were meant to trust and protect. The leader then revealed that they only want Sasuke, then Shikamaru's shadow jutsu collapsed.

'Shit looks like I'll need to step in.' I thought. I then began to form hand signs for the only jutsu that would help. The leader and Zaku threatened to kill Kin, as whatever happened to her happened to Ino and then they proceed to insult the others and they called the Leaf Village a second-rate village.

"They might be hacks… but I'm far from it," I hissed out. This caught their attention as I smirked at them. "Fire Style – Phoenix Rebirth Jutsu," I declared. Then I was surrounded by blazing green flames which took the appearance of the legendary bird I named the jutsu after. When the flames died down, all of my injuries were healed, my stamina was restored… however my chakra was severely depleted.

"It seems you can back up your boast. As for you Sound ninja that's pretty tough talk," A voice called out. We all snapped our heads up, to see Neji Hyūga and Tenten settled in a tree branch. "I guess that makes your village third-rate. I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing," Neji taunted.

"What?" The leader demanded.

"It's Lee's team. I wondered when they'd get here," Sakura stated. I had to agree, I was beginning to wonder if they would ever arrive for their teammate.

"Lee!" Tenten cried out when she spotted her severely injured teammate.

"You blew it," Neji stated, although I wasn't too sure who he was talking to. "It looks to me, like somebody used our teammate as a punching bag. No one does that and get's away with it!" Neji declared as he activated his Byakugan, his clan's Kekkei Genkai. "No more playing around Tenten. Full power!" Neji ordered. However when Tenten prepared to strike Neji deactivated his Byakugan.

"What the matter? Neji?" Tenten asked, also seeing the deactivation of his Dōjutsu. The leader taunted the Hyūga to attack, however I felt something tingling up my spine, it was a dark heavy aura that pressed down on my form.

"Actually it looks like it might have been taken out of my hands," Neji admitted. I looked behind me ad saw that the pale purple chakra from before had gotten even darker and more intense having turned black in places and it was rising off of Sasuke in a more intense fashion.

Soon the chakra engulfed him fully, I clenched my fist as it began to shake from fear at the eerie chakra. Sasuke then stood up the dark chakra rolling off of him in waves as the chakra itself began to wrap around him like a swirling vortex.

"Sasuke-kun! You're awake!" Sakura called out in happiness before she noticed that something was off with Sasuke. Blazing red flame marks appeared on the left side of his body.

"Sakura who did this to you?" Sasuke asked. Sakura and me didn't answer, far to stunned with fear to actually speak, I saw that the flame marks were in fact pitch black, Sasuke's eyes averted up to me and they narrowed. "You've been hurt as well Ami, who did it?" Sasuke repeated. My eyes widened in shock, only three people had been able to see I had be hurt before after using my Phoenix Rebirth.

"Sasuke, wh-what's happened to you?" Sakura asked, her voice unsteady as she spoke. Sasuke raised his left hand and looked at it, I noticed that his Sharingan was also activated.

"Don't worry, I'm alright. It's only the power flowing through me, in fact I've never felt better. He gave me this gift and he made me understand what I am. I'm an avenger, to follow my path I must have power, at any price even if it means being consumed by evil. Sakura, Ami tell me who hurt you?" Sasuke once more repeated.

"That'd be me," Zaku stated proudly. However the look Sasuke gave him, made my blood freeze instantly, the flame markings began to grow, covering the right side of Sasuke's face. "Dosu what's wrong? You're not getting cold feet are you?" Zaku asked the leader, as he formed a hand sign.

"No Zaku, you don't understand!" Dosu cried out. But Zaku didn't listen, he attempted to attack us with his sound waves, but Sasuke had moved fast enough to get us out of the way. He then proceed to attack the two sound ninjas with a fire attack, however just like my earlier fire attack Sasuke pulled the same trick of hiding weapons in the fire.

The weapons sliced through his skin and then Sasuke appeared behind him, forced him to the ground and seized a hold of his arms, a sadistic smile appeared on his face and he began to pull on Zaku's arms.

"You seem to be very proud of these arms of yours. You just be very attached to them," Sasuke taunted. He then began to pull harder on the arms as he pushed down on Zaku's back, eventually Zaku screamed in raw pain as his arms were dislocated.

"It looks like you're the only one left. I hope you make things more interesting than your friend did," Sasuke told Dose, a dark look on his face. Dosu seemed to quake with fear but he was paralysed by it.

Sasuke began to stalk towards Dosu, I felt panic rush through my entire body, before I forced myself to move. I stood up and rushed over to the moving Sasuke, I then hugged him from behind in an attempt to prevent him from moving.

"Stop it!" I cired out as I hugged him. Sasuke tensed up but he looked down at me as I raised my head, our gazes locked. "Please stop it. Don't let it consume you, you are strong enough without it, please stop," I quietly begged Sasuke. His eyes softened from their ice cold gaze and they turned back into his normal onyx black eyes, the flame markings receded and he collapsed backwards, I followed him down, his breathing was heavy and ragged.

"You're strong Sasuke," Dosu called out. I whipped my head up to him only to see him placing the Earth Scroll on the floor, I looked at the Sound ninja confused by his actions. "Too strong. We can't hope to defeat you the way you are now. We'll strike a deal, I give you this scroll, you let us go," Dosu offered. I looked ta the ninja suspicious of his actions, he picked up his teammates, gave some final words and then went to leave.

"Wait who is this Orochimaru anyway? What's he done to Sasuke? And why Sasuke?" Sakura called out.

"I don't know. All I know is that we were told to target Sasuke and we did. I don't know why he sent us to assassinate on someone whom he bestowed such powers, I don't not why Sasuke even survived the Curse Mark, there are many things I don't know," Dosu admitted and then he proceeded to walk away.

"Just what am I?" Sasuke asked as he clutched his left hand as it twitched and he stared at it in shock, horror or something else. Suddenly a scream broke the tense silence and I turned to see that Naruto had _**finally**_ woken up and was still panicking about Orochimaru.

"Oh no Sakura!" Naruto called out and he rushed over to us, he stumbled over his words as he spoke but he eventually managed to get them out. "Something serious happened to your hair," Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh that's all. I just wanted to change my look, I like it better long but when I'm out in the wilderness like this and moving around all the time it gets in the way too much," Sakura covered up. She looked at me and I agreed to hide it form Naruto to ease his mind.

Naruto began to question the others, so I stood up and began to walk about, first I picked up the Earth scroll Dosu left then I headed over to Lee. Tenten also appeared and said she would look after him… she ended up shaking him and yelling at him.

Lee woke up and I was relieved, however Tenten reprimanded him, Naruto yelled at Lee which caused Sakura to punch him. Seeing that everything was fine I walked off and settled by a tree and looked up at the canopy of trees.

"Hey Ami?" Sakura's voice asked. I perked up and turned to see both her and Ino standing behind me.

"Yes?" I asked. Both on them looked nervous but Ino took the initiative and stepped forward.

"Be truthful do you like Sasuke?" Ino demanded an answer. I looked at her confused for a moment before realising what she meant.

"As a friend yes, but romantic interest… sure he's good looking but I hardly know him, thus I can't love him. Why?" I responded. Ino and Sakura looked at each other confused.

"Then why did you hug him?" Sakura responded. I bit my lip and looked down at the floor, memories flooded back at her question. Burning screams, teary eyes, a flash of a familiar face before I clamped down on them and pushed them back.

"I had seen something like it before. Some being consumed by darkness. I had to stop it because I couldn't back then," I answered. Both girls fell quite and I walked away form them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 8: - The Genjutsu Trap

I carried a bundle of firewood and dumped it by Sakura, I stretched my back, cracking the bones as I did so. It had been two days since the Sound ninja attacked us, putting us on the fifth and final day of this damned test and we had still yet to acquire a Heaven scroll.

"Thanks Ami, I think that's enough firewood. You can use your fire now," Sakura told me. I nodded and formed hand signs before sending a single fire ball at the wood, lighting it. I then went over to check on the boys, who were collecting breakfast. Naruto was using his shadow clones to scare the fish out of the water, whilst Sasuke used his kunai to pin them to trees. They came back and placed the fish on sticks and we let them grill by the fire.

"It's already been four days since the second exam began," Sasuke stated. I thinned my lips and began to push the burning wood about so as to keep the flames blazing.

"That's right," Sakura admitted. They can concerned looks on their face, and even I was worried out the circumstances.

"We're sure not going to break any record," Sasuke spat bitterly. I looked at the Uchiha and I could agree, not that I cared about the records, I just cared about surviving this exam. "And we only have twenty-four hours left," Sasuke continued.

"Not exactly, we technically have more, taking into consideration the fact that the exam started during the afternoon and it's still daytime, we technically still have plenty of time left, but….," I explained and then trailed off into silence. Both of them stared at me before looking down, suddenly I didn't feel hungry.

"I wonder how many of the other teams have already got their scrolls and finished," Sakura wondered. I nodded and saw that Naruto had a big grin on his face, probably not concerned with our predicament. We began to eat even though the atmosphere was thick with worry. "We have to face it, there may not be any more Heaven scrolls left,"

"Well that's a cheerful thought," Sasuke sarcastically stated. I glared at the boy annoyed with him.

"Maybe so but it's true. Look you said it yourself Sasuke this is the fourth day we've been out here. That means we've already used up 80% of the time we've got to complete the exam, only thirteen teams can pass because there's only thirteen pair of Heaven and Earth scrolls, and you've got twenty-six teams, seventy-eight candidates out looking for them. And if those odds weren't bad enough, things have gotten even worse," Sakura explained. I decided to join in, to give Sakura' voice a break.

"Orochimaru burned our Heaven scroll, thus making it so that there are only twelve compete sets of Heaven and Earth scrolls. Also with the fact that by now most of those remaining sets will have been completed and delivered to the tower we don't have a high probability of passing," I finished up. Sasuke looked down a contemplative look on his face.

"Maybe we gave ourselves too much time to rest and recover from our last fight. I don't know what I do know is that we've got to get serious and make up for lost time, the next enemy we face could be our last chance," Sasuke told us. He then stood up and picked up the water canisters. "I'm going to get water. Ami come with, I need to talk to you," Sasuke stated. Confused I stood up and followed after the Uchiha, we came to the nearby river which was far enough form the campsite so that the others couldn't hear us.

"I'll be blunt, I don't trust you," Sasuke stated. I looked up to stare at him, waiting for him to carry on. "You know something and you're not telling us. You're stronger than you led us to believe, thus I don't trust you," Sasuke explained. His dark eyes, froze as he stared at me, I smirked and looked him dead in the eye.

"You're right, I do have secrets and so does everyone in this world. I'm not going to spill my guts to you because we're teammates. As for my strength, I only used my Justus because I didn't want to mess about with that Rain Genin, Orochimaru is a lot stronger than you think and those Sound ninja had pushed my buttons," I shot back at him. His eyes simply narrowed at me.

"Also your cold heart won't let you trust anyone, thaw your heart and then decide if you trust me or not," I added on. Sasuke's eyes widened as if he hadn't expected me to say something like that. The tense silence was shattered by Sasuke standing up, we began to head back when we came around a boulder only to see that Naruto and Sakura were with another ninja, we rushed over to the ninja, only to discover that it was Kabuto, who told us that he had stopped Naruto and Sakura from opening our Earth scroll.

"I can't believe you guys," Sasuke reprimanded the two. They looked down with shameful expressions on their faces, I also gave them a disappointed look

"If I hadn't come along when I did," Kabuto began to say but trailed off. The two of them apologise. "There have been others who have broken the rules and tried to peek at the scrolls. I've seen what happens to them, they're protected by a powerful hypnosis jutsu, a kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try to read them, it'll knock you senseless and by the time you wake up the exam is over," Kabuto explained. I raised an eyebrow wondering how he knew so much, after all the conditions much have changed even slightly between each exam.

"Kabuto right? We met at registration. What are you doing wandering around all by yourself?" Sasuke asked the ashen haired ninja.

"Don't worry I'm not after your Earth scroll," Kabuto responded. I eyed him sceptical of his motives.

"I guess not, if you were you would have just swiped it from Naruto when you had the chance," Sasuke stated. "So you're looking for a Heaven scroll to?" Sasuke asked.

"Not really. You see I already have them both," Kabuto responded. He then reached into his scroll pouch and pulled out both a Heaven and Earth scroll. "I had a run of luck. I was just on my way to the tower to wait up for my teammates. So if you'll excuse me," Kabuto explained as he tucked the scrolls away. He then began to walk away.

"Hold it. I'll fight you for it," Sasuke declared. I wasn't surprised we needed a Heaven scroll and it was anything goes.

"You'll fight me for it," Kabuto repeated. I watched the scene before me with the other two, however I felt the eyes of someone else watching us. The other two began to protest until Kabuto spoke up. "Are you serious?" He asked.

"Perfectly. Sorry but I don't have time to play nice," Sasuke answered. The other two attempted to stop him, but I remained quiet. "Shut up! It can be helped. It's either him or us, out here it's all about surviving and winning, nothing else matters," Sasuke added in.

"You're lying. Come on admit it for all your tough talk, your heart really isn't in it. If it was true, if winning was really the only thing that matter to you, why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned? After all that's what a ninja would do," Kabuto argued his point.

Kabuto then offered to take us to the tower, but insisted that we should move quickly as the competition would be drawn by the fire, it was obvious he had noticed that we were being watched.

"You think there are still other candidates out here?" Sasuke asked as we jumped through the trees.

"Oh yeah. Just think about it, what do you think is the most efficient way of gathering the scrolls in an area as large as this? To go searching through the forest" Kabuto responded.

"No, it would be more efficient to strike where the teams are most likely to converge. Which in this situation is the tower, especially on this day when everyone will be rushing straight for it," I answered.

"Exactly. The tower at the centre of the forest it the goal right. So on the last day of exam that area will be crawling with teams, converging on the tower with their scrolls

"Oh yeah, I get it, like an ambush. So we just head for the tower, find a hiding place and when a team comes along with a Heaven scroll, we jumped and take it," Sakura declared. I shook my head knowing it wouldn't be that easy.

"That's one-third of the problem. You guys aren't going to be the only ones thinking of this. Every other team lacking a scroll will be lying in wait, just like you," Kabuto warned.

"So what! The more, the merrier, I say. Whoever they are we'll take care of them, wouldn't want this to be too easy, that wouldn't be any fun. Ok, so we grab someone else's scroll and keep those losers from grabbing ours and bingo, we pass the second exam," Naruto boasted.

"That's two-thirds of the problem. There's bound to be some collectors lurking around at the finish line." Kabuto informed us.

"Collectors?" Sakura asked in confusion. I kept a wary eye on him, making sure he couldn't pull any tricks.

"Even when you think, you're home free you can't relax your guard for an instant. This kind of exam brings them out, collectors, they gather extra sets of scrolls to use for various ends, for example to bribe their way out of unexpected situations, or to provide their village mates with the scroll their lacking," Kabuto began to explain.

"Some steal them to keep candidates from rival villages form passing or to help our tams form their own villages who couldn't find the village on their own, others steal then for their own dark purposes, they hang on to them to use against the stronger teams down the line, they'll be there alright and they're bad news. The closer you get to the tower the more likely you'll be to run into them," Kabuto finished up.

"I see and I think I'm starting to understand, why you brought us along with you," Sasuke stated. Kabuto looked at him confused by his statement. "It's because you're frightened aren't you," Sasuke stated.

"You bet I am," Kabuto admitted. I glared at him not believing that, there had to be another reason why he dragged us along.

Night had fallen and the full moon was still rising into the sky, its' yellow glow shone down on the earth, bathing it in an eerie light.

"There's the tower that means the end is in sight. Now comes the hard part," Kabuto informed us.

"Well it's about time, bring it on!" Naruto yelled out. However the rest of us sensed something.

"There's someone back there," Sakura told us. Naruto threw a kunai backwards, and it landed in the head of a giant centipede.

"Ah, false alarm it's just a centipede," Naruto said. He was completely unconcerned that Sakura was shaking like a leaf in a gale storm.

"Just a centipede, that creepy thing's as big as a bus," Sakura complained. I rolled my eyes at her exasperation.

"Hey Naruto. Do us a favour, and try to keep it down to a dull roar will you?" Kabuto asked the blonde. However the blonde was completely confused by his request. "See the whole idea is not to let anyone know were here. If you go crashing through the forest like an elephant you're going to draw collectors like flies. We want to find them before they find us," Kabuto explained.

"Oh yeah I see your point," Naruto answered once he realised what Kabuto meant. I looked around something felt off, the atmosphere had shifted but I could tell what it was.

"Take it slow and quiet, let's use all the time we've got left," Kabuto suggested. We then began to move into the forest – we even encountered a trap along the way that Naruto trigged – however even as we moved, the tower never seemed to get any closer, and we were getting exhausted.

The others final noticed that the tower wasn't coming any closer, I looked around and spotted something I shouldn't have. A large centipede, pinned to a tree, with a kunai through its' head.

"Um… that look familiar," I pointed out. Everyone turned in the direction I pointed and their faces instantly paled.

"Oh man no way it can't be!" Naruto cried out in disbelief. I sighed and realised that we had been caught in a Genjutsu. "Hey what's the big idea?" Naruto asked.

"What's going on?" Sakura echoed the blonde's question.

"It would appear that we've been caught in a Genjutsu," I told them. Kabuto berated us and himself for not noticing, I gritted my teeth and looked around for any tell-tale signs.

"What's their game?" Sasuke asked.

"They're probably trying to ware us down, and strike when we're frustrated and physical exhausted," Kabuto reasoned.

"You mean like we are right now," Sasuke responded.

"Right. They'll be coming," Kabuto agreed. I looked around waiting for the inevitable attack form our assailants. Suddenly, dozens of Rain ninja began to crawl out of the wood, effectively surrounding us.

"Well Naruto you wanted a fight," Sasuke stated. I thinned my lips as I looked at the mass of ninja before us.

"5 against 50. I like those odds," Naruto responded. I pulled out my scroll and I looked around prepared to fight.

"What are they?" Sakura asked in panic. I was too sure myself, they could be clones or some kind of jutsu.

"Clones from the look of it, and a whole lot of them" Kabuto answered. Although I could tell that he wasn't too sure himself.

"Like cornered rats," One of the ninjas laughed. I looked around for any trick or sign that would discern the real ones.

"Oh yeah cornered rats are we?" Naruto yelled out as her charged. His fist connected with one of the ninjas and Sakura congratulated. However Naruto's fist began to slip through the ninja as it seemed to stretch and split, but instead of disappearing like normal clone would, another clone grew out of the damaged one.

'What the hell?' I thought as I watched the clone emerge. It came out holding a double edged kunai, it then went to attack Naruto.

"Naruto watch out!" Sasuke yelled. He then threw some shuriken protecting the blonde from the attack, by severing the arm of the clone. The clone then threw another double bladed kunai at Sasuke, he was frozen however, I grabbed a hold of him and shoved him down and out of the way, however the blade sliced across my arm.

I looked down at the boy only to see he was frozen, his Sharingan activated, I glanced at the mark on his neck and saw that it was blazing red and beginning to spread.

"Sasuke undo your Sharingan," I told the ravenette. I stood up and looked around the area, it was crawling with clones, that could attack us but we couldn't attack them. "Sakura watch Sasuke," I told the pinkette, she nodded and immediately tended to him, I saw that Kabuto had picked up the weapon.

'That things real, so what's the trick here.' I wondered in my mind. The clones then demanded that we surrender our scroll, I rolled my eyes not about to comply with the ridiculous request.

"The fact that Ami is wounded and bleeding, means that these things are real Shadow Clones," Naruto called out to us. I noticed that Kabuto visibly tensed and glanced at me for a brief moment before refocusing on the encroaching clones. "But, man, Shadow Clones are supposed to vanish when you give them a good shot, but these things don't. So what the heck are we dealing with, some kind of Genjutsu," Naruto finished up. The clones continued to demand our scroll but as Naruto was about to attack Sasuke called out.

"It's no use save it. You'll only be fighting illusions, it's Genjutsu alright," Sasuke told us. I slipped my scroll away, knowing it was useless to use it against an illusion.

"Illusions but how? That gash on Ami's arm is real enough," Sakura protested. I looked around still trying to spot our real opponents, now that I knew the ones in front of me were illusions.

"That's true, but still Sasuke's right. Could be the real enemies are hiding somewhere in the woods nearby. Launching a real attack from behind a smokescreen of illusions and coordinating their movements with them so that we're fooled into thinking the Genjutsu shinobi are the ones attacking us," Kabuto theorised. I nodded agreeing with it, wondering where exactly they could be… if only we could lure them out somehow.

"Well wherever they are, what are we going to do just stand here? Let's go find these clowns and take care of them," Naruto suggested. I knew that wouldn't work, we'd end up wandering in circles again.

"Hold on Naruto. They'd like nothing better than for us to go searching blindly through the forest, while they sit back and take us out. One by one, we'd be making their job easier," Kabuto told the blonde. Naruto wasn't happy with this at all.

"This sort of trick is only used by weak, little, cowards who are afraid to confront their opponent in Taijutsu," I told the others, having encountered this trick before in my travels.

"We have no choice but to hold our ground and fend off their attacks," Kabuto told us. The clones continued to attack us, whilst our real opponents threw kunai at us from the shadows, we blocked the attacks with our own kunai or to dodge the attacks as best we could.

"Man how long is this going to go on!" Sakura exclaimed. I had to agree with her, then I felt someone nudge me in the ribs, confused, I looked down to see Naruto.

"I have an idea," Naruto told me. I looked at him confused but then I grinned as I watched him cross his fingers in a familiar hand sign. "Ok this isn't going to work," Naruto spoke louder. However Kabuto quickly walked up to him and stopped him.

"No it's pointless, you'll only waste your chakra. By trying to fight these things, you'll be doing just what they want," Kabuto warned. However Naruto didn't heed him.

"If we were to eliminate all the illusions, whoever's casting them won't be able to hurl kunai at us without us being able to see where they're hiding. I'll show them two can play at this game," Naruto responded and he summoned his Shadow Cones.

The clones charged forward and began to engage the enemy, Naruto then quickly told us his plan and we executed it, before our opponents noticed what we were doing.

Time passed and the sun was just beginning to peek beyond the horizon, we had watched as Naruto and his clones took down the Genjutsu clones, before eventually joining in however now we had been worn down, exhausted, I knew that the real opponent would appear soon.

The Genjutsu clones faded away and the ninjas who had attacked us at the very start of the exam appeared with two others dressed just like him, I could only guess that they were his teammates. I looked at the other three and we nodded before silently jumping down behind the three Genin who were staring at Naruto and ourselves.

"Well, well. Now who's the cornered rat," Sasuke taunted the Genin. They seemed shocked to hear his voice echo from behind them and not from in front, Sakura then laughed.

"Worked like a charm Naruto," Sakura compliment. The Genin were beginning to panic as their leader looked around searching for us.

"Nice job Naruto-san, a cunning plan," I added in. They turned around to see us, unhampered and not breathing heavily, they didn't believe what they saw and were confused.

"Confused? Sorry, but it was the only way to get you guys to come out of hiding," Naruto explained. Then the fake us, were surrounded by a puff of smoke and when it faded more of Naruto's Shadow Clones replaced them.

"How? Don't tell me that little brat, it's not possible," the leader protested, unable to believe what had happened.

"The Shadow Clones were only the first part of it. My real trick was coming up with clones for the rest of my squad," Naruto began to explain, as he stood up, the clones disappearing.

"While our doubles did all the fighting and took the beating, we were safe and sound waiting for you to show yourself. What do you think guys, I think our little plan worked," Sasuke finished up. I wanted to laugh at the Genin but held my tongue, Naruto then fell to his knee as he was exhausted.

"Naruto take a break, you've used up too much of your chakra. Don't worry I've got them," Sasuke told the blonde. However Naruto got to his feet and landed a punch onto the Genin which forced all of them to the floor. I was stunned by the fact that he could still move after all that he had done.

"After all the work I've done, there's no way I'm going to stand back and let you guys have all the fun," Naruto protested as he heaved in his breaths. I was amazed at the sheer willpower, strength, stamina… whatever it was, that Naruto displayed.

The Rain Genin began to attack us using fog clones, I sighed not in the mood for this since time was running out. Naruto and Sasuke got into an argument about strategy, eventually Naruto began to charge in, I was about to follow when Sasuke froze up again as he still hadn't deactivated his Sharingan.

I was torn between helping Naruto who was fighting the clones, who was quickly followed by Kabuto or helping Sasuke who was still trying to use his Sharingan despite that pain that it was causing him. Sasuke made the choice for me when he cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees, I knelt down by him, followed by Sakura.

"Sasuke! Sasuke pleases stop using your Sharingan, stop it," Sakura begged. I looked at the mark to see it was starting to spread again.

"Listen to her, stop using your Sharingan it will only cause you pain," I advised the Uchiha.

"Now you're going to get it!" I heard Naruto cry out. I looked up to see that Kabuto was down and clutching his left knee, signalling that he had been injured.

"Forget it Naruto. You could swing at those guys all day, you're just wasting your time on them, the real ones aren't there," Sasuke told the blonde.

"What are you talking about that last attack didn't come from any clone. Of course the real ones are here, they've got to be here, if they're not then where the hell are they?" Naruto protested.

"Use your head. If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be in this fix," Sasuke retorted. Naruto then collapsed, a clone went to strike, then I saw that behind Naruto the ninjas rose out of the ground and attack Kabuto. When they went to deal the finishing blow, they suddenly flinched back this allowed Naruto to take them down and the clones disappeared.

We found that the Genin possessed a Heaven scroll, taking it we then rushed over to the tower. We managed to arrive without another incident and briefly met up with Kabuto's team, before we headed inside, I was quiet thankful for the possibility of the rest after what we had been through.


	9. Chapter 9

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 9: - Lion's Barrage!

"What's the deal no one is here?" Naruto asked. He looked around confused, I was also confused, but more so concerning the large message that hung on the wall in front of us, Sakura was helping Sasuke into the tower, as he was still weak.

"It's ok Sakura I can manage," Sasuke told the pinkette, as he pulled away from her.

"Oh sure," Sakura complied, but I could tell she was annoyed.

"I don't get it what happens now?" Naruto asked. He was still confused, it was then that Sakura pointed out the message on the wall.

"Hold on a second what is that?" Sakura asked. I read it over in my mind, but I was still confused about what to do.

"It's a message, I'll recite it," I told the three. They all looked at me as I cleared my throat and quickly skimmed it again. "If qualities of Heaven are your desire then acquire wisdom to take you mind higher, if Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are open together the perilous path will become righteous forever. This… something, it the secret way is what guides us form this place today," I recited from the board, however there was a blank spot, and I didn't understand.

"This what? Or is that a secret to?" Naruto asked. I shook my head and turned to the blonde.

"No there's a blank spot, meaning something but I don't know," I replied.

"It's about the scrolls. I think we're supposed to open and read the Heaven and Earth scrolls now," Sakura added in. I pulled out the scrolls, Sakura took Heaven and Naruto took Earth.

"Ok here goes nothing," Naruto stated, nervousness thick in his voice. Tension quickly thickened the air as the two opened both scrolls at the same time only to reveal, something that I immediately recognised, the symbol in the centre rose up as smoke began to pour out.

"That's a summoning circle! Get rid of them!" I cried out. They immediately threw the scrolls away from us and they crossed over perfectly as the smoke continued to seep from the scrolls, a banging sound was heard and when the smoke clear a man was standing before us.

The man was of average height and build. He has brown hair that was kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket. His sleeves were also rolled up about ¼ way.

"What it's you?" Sasuke asked. I looked at the three as they all seemed to recognise the man before us.

"Hey long time no see," The man greeted. I looked around and decided to wait for someone to clue me in as to who this man was.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked. From the suffix, I guessed he was a previous teacher of the three.

"Looks like you've gone through a lot, in this test," Iruka stated. I kept my eyes on the man wary for any sort of tricks that might occur.

"Hey, wait. What's the deal with the surprise entrance? Why are you appearing with the summoning?" Naruto questioned the man.

"At the end of the second exam, we Chūnin are supposed to welcome the test takers back. And well it was just good luck that I got to be the one given the important task of being the messenger for you guys," Iruka explained.

"The messenger?" Sakura asked confused. Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out a clock.

"And you made it just in time, and now congratulations you passed the second exam. To celebrate I would love to treat you all to some Ichiraku Ramen but I-," Iruka began to say but Naruto cut him off as he jumped forward.

"Ramen! Seriously, that's so cool, so cool," Naruto cried out. He hugged the man tightly, filled with love.

"Wait I'm not done. Let go," Iruka protested. However the blonde wouldn't listen to him as Naruto danced about and celebrate, I saw a soft smile appear on Iruka's face, I softened upon seeing it, knowing that this man could be trusted.

"Where does he get all this energy," Sasuke wondered. He and Sakura collapsed to the ground, I followed shortly after, the tension of the past five days practical washed off of my body.

"All right. Well I can see you're still has hyperactive as ever, Naruto," Iruka stated. I shook my head and held down a chuckle at this fact.

"Now I see. So if we had looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam, what would you have done to us Iruka-sensei?" Sasuke asked the Chūnin. He looked at us surprised by his question.

"As usual Sasuke, you're as sharp as a tack. You have figured out the secret, part of this exam was to test how well you could see a difficult mission all the way through. Simply put, you knew that opening the scrolls was against the rules of your mission and if you had tried to open one," Iruka began to explain but he fell silent before he finished the sentence.

"What, what would have happened?" Sakura asked. I also wanted to know what would have happened.

"If a scroll was opened we were ordered to knock out who ever opened it, some ninja found that out the hard way," Iruka answered.

"Huh. It's a good thing you didn't open your Naruto," Sasuke taunted the blonde. I cracked a smile at this, the other two froze up in complete stillness.

"I owe you one, thanks a lot Kabuto," Naruto called out. Sakura was also relieved about not opening the scroll.

"Oh yeah sensei. What does that writing on the world mean?" Sakura asked, as she pointed at the message on the wall. "The parchment the letters are written on is kind of eaten away, so it's difficult to read it, we can't understand it," Sakura explained.

"Oh please. Look we passed didn't we, that stuff doesn't matter now," Naruto told Sakura, who had a dark look on her face.

"Well actually, explaining that is another one of the duties I've been sent here to take care of," Iruka informed us. I looked at him and the message trying to discern it myself.

"What seriously?" Naruto asked, not believing what the man was saying.

"That's right, it's serious business. Give it a good read, they're instructions Hokage-sama recorded as principles that Chūnin should follow," Iruka explained.

"They're instructions?" Naruto asked, confusion evident on his face.

"Yes, Heaven stands for you mind and Earth stands for your body. If qualities of Heaven are your desire then acquire wisdom to take you mind higher. Get it?" Iruka asked, when he liked the two realms to physical things, I understood the first part of the message immediately it was only the part with a missing phrase that I didn't understand, however Naruto didn't understand.

"Alright I'll explain, in other words if your weakness lies in your intellect – Naruto – then you have to make doubly sure that you work hard to learn all the information and skills that you need to prepare for your missions," Iruka explained. Naruto wasn't impressed that he had automatically singled him out, Sakura laughed at this fact

"And you, if Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. So if your weakness lies in your physical strength – Sakura – then you have to make sure that you work on your physical conditioning every single day so that it improves all the time," Iruka explained. Sakura immediately went shy after what Iruka said.

"When Heaven and Earth are open together the perilous path will become righteous forever. Meaning if your mind and body are working together as one, even a very dangerous mission can become an easy one," Iruka finished explaining.

"So what about that spot with the missing letter?" Sakura asked.

"Well that part is meant for all of you to fill in. Do you see that symbol on the scroll, it's the character for person, a reference to you Chūnin. You see these five days of survival were to test your abilities as Chūnin to see if you'll be any good at it, and I got to say you guys really did magnificently. A Chūnin is a leader, a guide, it's a Chūnin's responsibility to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those surviving under him and to know what skills and training those ninjas are going to need to succeed on a mission. You did an excellent job on this mission and I want you to remember these instructions on your next one. Well that's it that was everything I was supposed to say to you," Iruka congratulated.

"Got it," Naruto replied. I smiled at the blonde, he had truly grown during the exam, even I could see that.

"You must be Ami," Iruka's voice sounded. I looked up to see the Chūnin was looking at me. "I'm not quite sure what to say to you, to be honest," Iruka admitted a sheepish look on his face.

"You don't have to say anything," I responded. Iruka seemed surprised but he nodded. He then attempted to give some advice to the other but Naruto convinced him not to by giving an inspirational speech, we were then sent on our way to the main room.

The main room was large, with two balconies on the sides, and the ground floor was completely clear of any obstacles. In front of us was a wall with blue panels on it, a statue of the hand sign for Ram in front of the wall. We lined up with the other team of which were Kabuto's team, Dosu's team, Gaara's team, Lee's team and all of the Rookie Nine. In front of us were the senseis of the qualifying teams, Ibiki-sama, Anko-sama, some other ninjas and Hokage-sama.

"First of all congratulations on finishing the second exam," Anko praised us, but she looked concerned about something.

"What a drag there's so many left," I heard Shikmaru complain. I looked around and noticed that Kabuto's team was another four man squad.

"Sasuke and his team have passed to," Ino called out, joy soaked each of her words.

"Well of course they did, after all the trouble we went through to keep them safe they better have passed," Shikamaru responded, annoyance in his voice.

I continued looking around and my eyes landed on Lee, I was glad to see that he was alright, I just hoped he had fully recovered from the Sound ninja's assault.

"Hey look all of the Leaf Village rookies are here to," Sakura told us. I nodded confirming I had seen

"Wow, everybody's here. Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei and even Bushy brow, it looks like absolutely nobody got left out this time," Naruto exclaimed.

"I don't have a very good feeling about this," Sasuke stated as he gripped his neck. I was concerned about the Curse Mark.

"Alright now pay attention! Hokage-sama is going to explain the third exam to you and you better listen carefully maggots. Hokage-sama, they're all yours," Anko called out to us, before bowing respectfully. Hokage-sama then stepped forward.

"First before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself, listen closely now, it's something that all of you need to understand," Hokage-sama called out to us. This caused a wave of confusion to wash over us. "I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjuncture with our allies?" Hokage-sama asked. However no one gave any answer.

"To raise the ability levels of the shinobi and increase friendships between allied nations, to be sur. But it's important that you understand its' true meaning. The exams are, so to speak, they're a representation of the battle between allied nations," Hokage-sama declared. I raised an eyebrow confused

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Now if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighbouring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chūnin Selection Exams originally began," Hokage-sama explained.

"Well that's great but why do we have to we have to go through these exams then? I mean it's not like we're doing this to pick Chūnin to go fight," Naruto question.

"Well actually, there is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of become Chūnin, that's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their back and fight against ninja for their very lives," Hokage-sama explained.

"The pride of their nation?" Sakura questioned. I was also confused by this fact.

"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend these exams as guests and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them, this exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. But more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each the ninja and each nation are developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja and conversely the requests to nations deemed weak decline. There for the strong our nation is, the better our positon when it comes to negotiating with neighbouring nations, so it's important to show how much military strength our nation has," Hokage-sama explained.

"Ok, but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" Kiba asked. I wished everyone would shut up so that we could get on with this exam.

"The country's strength is the village's strength, the village's strength is the shinobi strength. And the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it is pushed to its' limits, such as in a life and death. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its' shinobi and hence the strength of the nation itself. It's because this exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning and it's for this very reason that the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for," Hokage-sama continued on.

"But then why did you use the expression friendship before?" Tenten question. I bit my tongue to prevent myself from lashing out at anyone, the waiting and continuous questioning was beginning to get on my nerves.

"But you've only remembered half of what I said. You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning, this is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying, in the world of the shinobi that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake," Hokage-sama finally finished. Then Gaara asked by the third exam, claiming he could handle anything… which wasn't a boast.

"Very well then. Now listen closely I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll all be doing on the third exam," Hokage-sama began to say but suddenly another ninja dropped down in front of him

"Hokage-sama before you do, allow me Hayate Gekkō appointed as proctor of the third exam, to speak first," The ninja requested.

"So be it," Hokage-sama complied. The man then stood up.

"It's nice to meet you all," Hayate greeted. He then began to cough and he turned to face us. Hayate had short brown hair and dark markings under his eyes, even though he was a young man, he had pronounced lines under his eyes. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he wore as a bandanna, flak jacket and regular shinobi sandals.

"There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam," he told us before coughing again. I wondered if he was fit enough to be the proctor.

Hayate went on to explain that due to the high number of candidates, a preliminary exam had to be held to thin the number down a little, the exam would be held in one-on-one sudden death match-ups. If anyone didn't want to take it then they could drop out.

Sakura attempted to get Sasuke to drop out, During this argument, I noticed that Hokage-sama, Ibiki-sama and Anko-sama were having a discussion and I saw Anko raise her hand to her neck and look at Sasuke. I wasn't sure what to make of those gestures but it put me on edge a little. It was at this point that after a while Kabuto announced that he wanted to drop out. When he gave his explanation I was sceptical, I watched him as he walked away.

Sakura and Sasuke continued their disagreement and his reasoning was that he wanted to fight some of the people gathered here, and he told her not to tell anyone when me and Naruto attempted to intervene Sasuke told us that he wanted to fight us as well.

Hayate told us that the matches would be arranged by random choice, a screen appeared behind one of the panels and, as if in a cruel twist of fate, Sasuke was selected for the first battle to fight against someone called Yoroi Akadō. The rest of us were ordered up to the balconies, I noticed that Kakashi-sensei spoke with Sasuke for a short time before joining us.

I looked down at Sasuke's opponent and noticed that he was a member of Kabuto's team, his appearance was greatly concealed by the mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck, sunglasses that obscured his eyes and forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore what appears to be the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, navy-blue shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, pants, sandals and fingerless gloves.

We all waited in tense silence, I was worried about Sasuke and that Curse Mark. Hayate started the match, Yoroi threw shuriken at Sasuke who blocked them with a kunai and sent them right back, however he suddenly became unbalanced and fell to the ground.

Yoroi dodged the shuriken, and appeared in front of Sasuke, he punched at Sasuke, but Sasuke was able to dodge the blow and he was able to knock Yoroi to the floor and pin him there.

However that's when things went bad, Yoroi twisted his hand and it became surrounded by chakra. It stopped after a short while, but I saw that Sasuke was unable to move and Yoroi slammed his hand onto the Uchiha's chest and then he jumped back.

Sasuke still couldn't move and Yoroi moved into attack again, Sakura cried out and that snapped Sasuke out of his stunned state and he sat up. However before he could dodge, Yoroi managed to attach his hand to Sasuke's head and he was forced back down, as he struggled against his opponent, but then he went limp and I understood that Yoroi was draining Sasuke's chakra.

"My chakra, you're stealing it from me," Sasuke called out. This caused his opponent to laugh

"You finally caught on," Yoroi taunted. Sasuke's energy was being completely drained away and his was growing weak, I saw that it was causing him pain as he cried out.

"Get off me!" Sasuke yelled out. He was then able to kick Yoroi off of him, Sasuke then struggled to sit up.

"So, you've still got some strength left. Impressive, for a guinea pig," Yoroi taunted. Sasuke was struggling to breath after have both his physical and spiritual energy drained. "Don't worry little man, I'll make it short and sweet," Yoroi added on.

Toroi then charged, his ability already activate, however Sasuke dodge the blows but Yoroi was able to catch him slightly and he became weak as he stumbled out of the way.

"What's the matter? Is that really the best you can do?" Yoroi taunted. Sasuke launched a kick at him but Yoroi dodge out of the way.

"Hey Sasuke, come one man what was that? And you called yourself an Uchiha," Naruto called out to the ravenette. This angered Sasuke, as he turned to lgare at the blonde. "You're going to let this dude walk all over you. Come on, stop messing around and get it in gear!" Naruto yelled at the boy.

"I'll teach you to turn your back on me. Big mistake and your last," Yoroi called out to Sasuke, as he charged at him. Sasuke dodge the blows, then he disappeared.

'Did he just?' I thought, as Sasuke reappeared and slammed his foot into Yoroi's chin sending him into the air. He then jumped up and used Dancing Leaf Shadow to get behind Yoroi, I smirked realising that he had copied Lee's movements.

Sasuke was about to attack but he suddenly froze up, I saw that the Curse Mark was beginning to spread over his body. Things became tense as time seemed to slow down instantly, and then all of a sudden the Curse Mark began to recede.

'He controlled it?!' I thought in my mind, as I stared in shock at Uchiha.

"Here we go," Sasuke stated. He placed a hand on Yoroi's back, he then went to kick at him but Yoroi blocked it. He then went to attack with his other leg but it was a bluff as he slammed his fist onto Yoroi's shoulder, sending the ninja flying down.

Sasuke punched him again and then he swung his leg into Yoroi as he neared the ground forcing the ninja to land with a harsh crash into the ground.

"Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke cried out, naming the technique. They both went sliding backwards, but Sasuke was able to stand up and he was declared the winner.

I smiled at the Uchiha proud of what he had accomplished, despite the odds, I looked around to see the different reactions, then my eyes landed on the Sound Jōnin, he shivered with excitement and then he lciked hislips but his tongue was longer than normal.

'Orochimaru!' I identified the man in my mind. He felt my eyes on him and he looked at me directly a smirk plastered on his face. Kakashi then took Sasuke away, I could only guess that the purpose was to contain the Curse Mark's powers.

Naruto asked us if we saw anything on Sasuke's neck, but we lied as Sasuke had asked us not to tell Naruto. I looked up to the panel to watch as the second match was decided it declared that Shino and Zaku were to fight next. I looked at the Sound ninja and saw that his arms were still damaged from what Sasuke did to them.

I watched as the Sound Jonin vanished, I thinned my lips unhappy about this as I returned my gaze to the fight before me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 10: - Kunoichi Rumble

The two ninjas squared off against each other, silence hanging in the air as we waited for the match to start. I was interested in seeing how Shino thought, his surname did ring a bell but I couldn't pinpoint it.

"If you fight me, you won't be able to recover. Forfeit and with draw," Shino told Zaku. This caused the Sound ninja to grit his teeth as he glared at Shino, but he then smirked.

"Well what do you know? I've got a little movement in one of them," Zaku stated. He managed to remove his left arm out of the sling he wore. "One good arm's more than enough to beat you" Zaku declared. He then charged at Shino and he attempted to punch Shino but he was able to block the attack.

"You couldn't beat me using both your arms," Shino responded.

"Yeah well I've got news for you," Zaku retorted. Then his wind tunnel blasted sound waves out at the ninja, causing a large cloud of dust to be kicked up and Shino to be thrown to the floor. We all waited for something to happen as Shino remained still on the floor his body smoking.

"Alright foo, you had enough?" Zaku questioned. Then Shino began to stand up, to everyone's surprise. "He's- There's no way," Zaku stated, not believing his eyes then a strange sound began to echo, it sounded like a sort of grinding sound.

Everyone began to look around searching for the source of the sound, then as I looked down I saw that a swarm of bugs were crawling across Shino's body. I wondered when they had come from, as I couldn't see.

"Great now that you've creped us all out, what happens next?" Zaku asked. Then behind him a horde of bugs had gathered.

"They're a rare species of parasitic beetle, that attack their prey in a swarm eating its' chakra. An army of this size will suck you dry in less than a minute, your only intelligent option is to forfeit the match. You can't fight two opponents at once, if you use your good arm against me, my friends will swarm you from behind, conversely if you use your good arm to keep them at bay then you'll have me on your blind side. Either way your defeat will be certain and unpleasant, it's wise to always have an ace in the hole," Shino told the Sound ninja.

A blazing look of rage appeared in Zaku's eyes as he seemed to struggle with the decision, then I saw that his other arm was beginning to twitch and he pointed his moveable arm at Shino, who seemed surprised by this turn of events.

"Now you've done it, now you've made me mad!" Zaku yelled. He then managed to move his damaged arm and pointed it at the beetles. "Like you said yourself, always have an ace in the hole right," Zaku taunted.

"What the- I thought his right arm was shot," Kiba spoke aloud. It seemed that Zaku had recovered both of this arm's mobility and that he had pretended only one of his arms worked so as to trick his opponent.

"I'll blow you away!" Zaku yelled. He went to attack but instead the chakra burst out of his arms, everyone was shocked by this. It turned out that Shino had planted bugs in the tubes and since the pressurized chakra couldn't escape through the tubes, it forced its' way out through Zaku's arms which rendered him incapable of fighting.

Shino was declared the winner, I had finally pegged his name, his clan were bug users, a rather fearsome group of fighters to be sure, the dangers of their beetles were well known. Kakashi-sensei then appeared behind us and told us that Sasuke was fine, however he looked at me and suspicious and confused gleam in his visible eye.

The match was chosen and it was between Kankurō and Misumi Tsurugi, who was another member of Kabuto's team. His appearance was greatly concealed by the mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck and forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore what appears to be the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, navy-blue shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, pants, sandals and fingerless gloves, along with a pair of round framed glasses.

"I'm not like Yoroi, I don't get careless not even again kids," Misumi told Kankurō. I wondered if he had any unique Justus like his teammate. "A piece of advice, once I go into my jutsu, give up, quickly. If you do I promise to make it short and painless," Misumi added on. Kankuro then removed the large wrapped object form his back.

"Funny I was about to say the same thing. Though I can't promise it'll be painless," Kankurō retorted. Then the match was started. "Let me do you a favour and end this battle quickly," Kankurō suggested to his opponent

"You can't end it if I end it first," Misumi retorted and then he charged. He swung a punch at Kankurō but he was able to block it, however that's when things got strange, as Misumi's body suddenly became flexible and he was able to wrap his body around Kankurō, trapping him and causing him to drop the object.

"I dislocate everyone of me joints, softening my body. Then with my chakra I can control it perfectly," Misumi explained. Honestly it sounded disturbing to me and rather strange as well.

"The more you struggle, the tighter I'll squeeze. I don't know what you're carrying in there but as long as I'm have a hold of you, it makes no difference. I could break you neck right now if I wanted to… and I will unless you give up," Misumi declared.

"You want to bet?" Kankurō asked, a cocky tone to his voice.

"You want to die?" Misumi asked as he squeezed tighter.

"You fool, you're the one who's going to die here," Kankurō stated. Then Misumi snapped Kankurō's neck, killing him… or so we thought, until Kankurō's head turn and Misumi was trapped by his many wooden arms, revealing that Kankurō was actually a puppet and the real Kankuro had been hidden inside of the large wrapping, controlling the puppet this whole time.

"He controls it with chakra from his hand," Sakura stated, as she observed the technique that Kankurō was using. Misumi was then crushed by the puppet, allowing Kankuro to win the match easily.

"Two against one is hitting below the belt, it's it. I mean is that thing even fair Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto protested.

"It's not really two against one, that thing is a puppet, not another ninja," Kakashi-sensei explained.

"Yeah it's just the Puppet Master Jutsu. He's controlling the puppet with chakra, it's a ninja tool like a shuriken," Sakura chimed in.

"Compare it to a clone jutsu. Now those aren't technically two on one even though the clone has free movement whilst the puppet is controlled by the ninja using it," I explained to Naruto. I couldn't tell if he understood what I meant but I think he did.

Looking at Sakura I saw that she was nervous about her match, she went off to the rest room. I thought about her match myself, and I honestly hoped that she wouldn't have to go up against one of the Sand ninja, the Sound ninja or heaven's forbid… me.

"Now let's continue it's time to begin the four battle," Hayate announced. The panel began to shuffle again, I was anxious about who I would fight

"Well no matter who's picked it'll be to weirdoes this contest is chocked full of them," Naruto stated. I looked at him and smiled thinking that he was one of the weirdest ones here.

"Well you're one to talk," Kakashi-sensei stated. Sakura chimed in as well, she seemed better, in fact a small fire burned in her eyes. I heard the panel stop and I looked up, my body froze as I saw that Ino _**and **_Sakura had been match up.

"This isn't a time for laughter," Kakshi-sensei told Sakura as he gestured to the panel. She looked and her eyes widened so much I think her eyes might have fallen out. The two went down to square off against each other, but the air was thick with tension

"I'd never thought I'd fight you… or at least I didn't think it would happen this soon. Don't expect me to go easy on you," Ino stated. Sakura remained quiet a contemplative look on her face.

"Of all the people for Ino to go up against, it would have to be Sakura. What a mess," Shikamaru stated, worry in his tone.

"I know, I hope Ino will be ok," Chōji added in. I wondered about the relationship between these Kunoichi, it was obviously something more than a romantic rivalry.

"Go Sakura, you can do it! Don't lose!" Naruto called out to the pinkette. The match began and both of them charged at each other, Sakura sent out a roundhouse kick but Ino managed to dodge it.

Ino retaliated with a punch, Sakura managed to block the attack and she then sent out a sweep kick but Ino jumped into the air, dodging it. Sakura threw kunai at Ino who, dodge one, grabbed another and used that to block the third, they then began to charge at each other.

"Oh no I just knew it," Chōji wined. I glanced at the boy before returning my gaze to the fight, it was obvious to me and they were holding back and I guess that Ino's team had seen this as well.

"Sakura's totally blowing Ino out of the water in this battle," Naruto stated. Shikamaru insulted Naruto but as he went to retaliate, another voice entered into the argument.

"That it. That's as good as Kunoichi can get at hand-to-hand combat," Neji stated. I whipped around to the Hyūga boy, annoyance coursing through me as that was also an insult towards me.

"What?!" Naruto cried out as he also turned towards the Hyūga.

"It's not because they're girls you know Neji. It's just that those two are using kid gloves. It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman in battle," Tenten argued. I smiled glad that the girl had defend our fighting abilities… she must have had to deal with this a lot.

"Using kid gloves?" Naruto asked the confusion was quite clear in his voice. I tapped him on the shoulder and he looked at me confusion clearly evident on his face.

"Watch the fight closely and you'll understand," I told the blonde. He nodded and he turned back to watch the battle, I did the same.

Sakura jumped back in to continue the fight, this continued on for a short while until Ino managed to land a punch to Sakura's stomach, Ino then went in to follow up the attack but instead of a punch, something caused Ino to strike Sakura with a slap instead.

"Hey you two," I called out to Ino's teammates they looked at me confusion on their faces. "You obviously know something, I wasn't in the academy so care to explain their relationship?" I asked. Shikamaru sighed and looked away, whilst Chōji looked unsure.

"It'd be too much of a drag to explain it to you," Shikamaru stated. I glared at the boy but he just ignored me.

"They use to be friends," A soft, gentle voice said. I looked over to see that it was actually Hinata who had spoken.

"They did? What happened to them?" I asked the girl. She looked down a nervous expression on her face, before she raised her head to look at me.

"They found out that they both liked Sasuke and that caused them to be rivals," Hinata answered. I scowled at this fact and turned back to the battle, they fighters had remained standing still as if they couldn't decide what to do.

"How stupid," I hissed out. This grabbed everyone's attention as I gripped the railing in front of me with a white knuckle grip. "I'd sooner choice a friend over a boy," I continued on, my eyes stayed focused on the duo.

"Alright listen up Ino, I'm not going to fight with you over Sasuke," Sakura called out to the blonde girl. I wondered with these two would finally get it in gear.

"What did you say?" Ino demanded. Anger radiated off of the girl at that statement.

"I'm not the weak, needy, girl I use to be. You're not even on my radar and you're not Sasuke's type. Ino-pig," Sakura continued on. I raised an eyebrow at the insult that the pinkette hurled at her opponent.

"Sakura, you better watch your step. Do you have any idea who you're mouthing off to? Don't press your luck with me, little Billboard Brow," Ino retaliated. Naruto was confused by why Sakura had insulted Ino, Kakashi-sensei explained that Sakura didn't want Ino to fight against her weakly.

"So I'm a bud that hasn't flowered, huh?" Sakura questioned. I could only assume it was connected to her past relationship with Ino.

A fire gleamed in Sakura's eyes that showed her determination, she then reached back and undid the forehead protector from around her head. Sakura then tied the protector in the traditional fashion, Ino, as if understand the motion, repeated the same action.

During this Naruto wondered why the girls were getting so worked up just by looking at each other. I held a smile on my face, realising that as normal the boy was oblivious to almost everything, including the fact that he acted the exact same way with Sasuke.

They charged at each other both launch a punch which connected with the other, the force of the punches forced the Kunoichi backwards. I smirked realising that the two of them were at last taking this battle seriously.

They then charged again and Sakura created two clones of herself, this annoyed Ino who cried out, she then stopped and watched the clones, hoping to identify the real Sakura. However Sakura had sent Chakra to her feet allowing her to move faster, this movement prevented Ino from identifying the fakes as Sakura was able to land a punch as the fakes disappeared.

"I'm not some cry-baby anymore, you play with fire you're going to get burned," Sakura told the blonde. Ino had been sent flying back due to the punch. "Let's see your best Ino," Sakura challenged. Ino knelt up and rubbed her jaw area.

"It's not like I needed your invitation, you know," Ino responded. She then stood to her feet as she stared down at Sakura. "I'll give you my best, but you're not going to like it," Ino added on. Naruto cheered Sakura on, Kakashi noted her chakra skills, which even to my eyes were impressive especially for someone of her skill level.

The two then charged at each other and both threw a punch but the other blocked it perfectly. I bit my lip as I examined them. They forced each other back and whilst they were sailing they both threw a shriken which cancelled each other out

'Equally matched in strength and speed. Sakura has better Chakra control whilst Ino has her clan's speciality. This match will go on for ages and it could go either way… even a tie.' I thought. My analysis was confirmed when the fight continued for another 10 minutes, without either fighter dealing any major damage to the other.

They both struck a blow to each other's face and this attack sent both Kunoichi flying backwards. Both of them were breathing heavily, the battle having taken a lot of their stamina.

"This isn't how this was supposed to go. How can you be evenly matched with me?" Ino asked, surprised clear in her voice. It was obvious she thought that this would be an easy match.

"I guess your right Ino, your obsession with your looks and your hair can't be surpassed, I've been training too hard to worry about that stuff," Sakura retorted. I rolled my eyes at her offhand comment, considering it was what Kin had berated her about.

"You're going to pay for that," Ino stated. The anger rolling off of her in waves was palpable, Ino removed a kunai from her pouch as she glared at Sakura. "I've had enough of you making fun of me," Ino added on. However I knew that Ino had fallen into Sakura's trap by rising to the bait, Ino raised her kunai to her hair and she cut off the strands that were tied in the ponytail.

"You think that will help?" Sakura taunted. I stared at the two wondering what would happen next, as the tension had thicken to being a thousand times worse than what it was before, it practically suffocated the room.

"That's it! See I don't need this!" Ino yelled, as she threw her hair at Sakura. It landed between them. "Alright I'll put an end to this right now. Get ready to tell everyone you lost to me Billboard Brow," Ino declared.

"Wait don't tell me she's going to," Shikamaru called out. The rest of her team and her sensei looked equally worried, I could only assume that she was probably going to use her clan speciality, the Mind Transfer Jutsu… however there was a high amount of risks involved with this jutsu.

The though was confirmed then Ino formed the unique hand sign for the jutsu, Sakura continued to taunt Ino, as if she didn't realise the risk she was putting on herself… and least until she displayed her knowledge of the jutsu's effects and risks.

'Ino must know these risks. So why would she take it, she's not that stupid… I think.' I wondered in my mind. Sakura began to move and then Ino used the jutsu, both girls froze in place and then Ino fell to her knees unable to move, Sakura moved but it was revealed that the jutsu hadn't worked.

Sakura began to approach her opponent but that was when her legs were ensnared with chakra that was rushing through Ino's hair. Ino revealed she actually hadn't discharged her spirt and had used her hair as a trap for Sakura, with Sakura now unable to move Ino was free to use her Mind Transfer Jutsu and was able to possess Sakura.

"Now I, Sakura Haruno, would like to say that I with-," Ino began to force Sakura to quit until Naruto cried out.

"NO!" Naruto screamed out. I think me and Lee who were right next to him would suffer light deafness later. "Sakura don't! You worked so hard to get here Sakura, don't disgrace yourself now by losing to that lame Ino girl," Naruto continued on. I looked at Sakura and knew I had to help.

"Naruto's right Sakura. Your spirit is stronger than Ino's so kick her out already or are you really so weak that you'll let her win this battle," I taunted. Everyone stared at me in shock at what I had said.

"You are so screwed later," Shikamaru hissed. I looked at him a smirk on my face as I shrugged, I knew Sakura might not be so happy about what I said, but it might to the trick to arose Sakura's soul.

Something seemed to happen to Io's control over Sakura as she cried out in pain as Sakura's hands rose to her head, clutching it in pain. Then Sakura managed to break through and refused to withdraw, Naruto cheered and I smiled, glad to see that the girl had forced her rival out when Sakura made the same sign Kin had when the jutsu was released.

Sakura collapsed to the ground, exhaustion clear in her body as she sucked in deep breaths. Both Kunoichi rose to their feet, each as exhausted as the other, they began to charge at each other, both had a punch prepared as they neared they brought the punch forward and smashed it into each other.

The force of the punch sent both Kunoichi flying back, dislodging their forehead protectors and effectively knocking them out and ending the match in a tie, meaning that neither one of them would move on to the third exam.

Their sensei retrieved them and brought them up to the balconies, I looked at both girls and shook my head at them. Both were strong and they would grow even stronger in the future… however for the time being these exhausted girls needed their rest, a smile was plastered on their faces.

The fifth battle was then decided and it matched up Tenten against Temari, which was the blonde Sand Kunoichi.


	11. Chapter 11

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 11: - Killer Kunoichi, Shaky Shikamaru

The two girls stared down at each other, Lee and Guy cheered their teammate on, as the rest of us waited in silence for the match to begin. I was worried about Tenten, hoping that she would be alright.

"Begin," Hayate spoke. Temari made a motion and Tenten jumped back, giving her some distance.

"Alright Tenten keep her guessing," Lee called down. I flicked my eyes to them before looking back at the match, tension hung in the air as we waited for one of the Kunoichi to make a move.

Guy and Lee continued to cheer and I suppressed the urge to _seriously _electrocute then and **permanently** cripple them, even Naruto was getting annoyed with them. Hayate, out loud, wondered why neither of them were attacking.

"Huh. Guess she's waiting for me to make a move. Big mistake, because the first move I make, will be the last one you see," Temari taunted. She then stepped forward and Tenten stepped back, keeping her distance. "Come on, I don't want this match to be over too quickly. So why don't you go first, come on girl show me what you got," Temari pushed the girl.

"Ok if you insist. Remember you asked for it," Tenten responded. She jumped up into the air and threw some shuriken at Temari, however all of them somehow missed their mark, during the attack, I think I saw Temari flicker briefly.

"I missed her! There's just no way" Tenten cried out in shock. She was stunned as if this had never happened to her before.

"What was that? A warm up exercise, or maybe you're a little nervous and it's affected your aim. Is that it?" Temari taunted. I wondered why on earth Tenten was shocked, anyone could miss with a ninja tool, even me. "Perhaps I was hoping I'd at least work up a sweat, but forget that idea if this is the best you've got," Temari sneered. Her eyes briefly flicked up to me before focusing back on her opponent

"What is going on? How did she miss? It is incredible!" Lee yelled out. The same hocked tone that was in Tenten's voice was in his.

"It's impossible! Tenten's aim is perfect, she always hits her mark," Guy stated. I understood why they were shocked, Tenten had never missed thus it came as a surprise to them.

"Not this time, she didn't," Neji piped in. I wondered how on earth his team could stand the Hyūga boy, as I found him to be extremely annoying and a little demeaning.

"She never misses. There must have been something that made her miss," Guy stated. I knew that to be true, something had cause Tenten to miss… and it couldn't be stopped.

"Man this is embarrassing. Sand village wins again," Shikamaru stated. I nodded agreeing with the lazy boy.

"What are you talking about the match just started?" Naruto asked, confusion clear in his tone.

"It's over," Shikamaru protested.

"Give me a break. What makes you so smart? Why don't you explain it to me so that I understand?" Naruto demanded from the boy. However Shikamaru stated that he wouldn't explain if Naruto couldn't see it for himself.

"It's obvious like he said," Chōji piped in. But Naruto still didn't understand what they meant. Tenten measured her distance, as she tried to assess what had happened, Temari then reached back and touched the large black fan that was strapped to her back.

Tenten then began to circle around Temari looking for a weak spot that she could strike, Tenten then jumped into the air and pulled out a scroll.

"Alright try this on for size!" Tenten challenged. She opened the scroll and it began to swirl around her. It began to spin so fast that it ended up as a blur, weapons then flew out and straight towards Temari, however just as before all the weapons missed.

"No way! She stopped everything I threw," Tenten called out. Temari had a smirk resting on her face as she held her partial opened fan revealing that painted onto the blades was a purple circle. "What has she got in that fan of hers?" Tenten wondered.

"Take a look. This is the first moon, there are two more. When you see all three moons you'll, you've lsot the match," Temari explained. I rolled my eyes at this taunt.

"This match was lost before it began," I whispered. I want this battle to end, hoping that I could get on to my match soon.

"Tenten do not play your opponent's game. Maintain focus, maintain focus," Lee called out to her. Tenten then pulled out two more scrolls and her team seemed shocked by this move.

"She's… using that already," Guy questioned in surprise that this move. I wondered what was so special it was just a pair of scrolls.

"What's with the two scrolls? What's she planning to do with them?" Naruto questioned. Tenten bent down and placed the scrolls at an arm's length away from her body

"It won't work, whatever it is," Temari stated. Tenten ignored her and then she began to weave hand signs.

"Ninja Art – Rising Twin Dragons!" Tenten declared. Suddenly a large puff of smoke was released and then smoke dragons rose out of it and they began to twist around each other. The dragons were in fact the scrolls, then Tenten jumped up between the scrolls and began to hurl, weapon after weapon at Temari.

"Huh, doesn't matter how man you throw at me, it's all the same. Moon number two," Temari called out. She unleashed her attack and blocked the weapons with a wall of wind. The weapons, scrolls and Tenten all landed on the floor

"I'm not done!" Tenten shot back. She jumped into the air and then revealed that the weapons had strings attached to them, Tenten pulled the weapons back into the air and then tossed them at Temari, however it as in vain as Temari launched her wind attack again, blasting both the weapons and Tenten backwards.

"Moon number three," Temari stated. I knew it was over, Tenten couldn't do anything, especially if her only skill was in ninja tools. Temari then ducked behind her fan and both disappeared. "Over here," Temari called out to Tenten as she reappeared. She was flying on her fan as she approached the brunette, she landed and her hand furled up.

"Now it's my turn," Temari stated. She then unfurled her fan and held it in her hands. "Wind Style – Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Temari declared. A cyclone of wind surged out and it seized Tenten in its' grasp, dragging her up into the air, the wind was so sharp that it slashed open Tenten's skin.

"Temari's chakra is controlling the vortex. She fought well, but she'll never escape form that whirlwind, it's over," Neji stated. Tenten then began to fall from the sky, Temari caught her by forcing Tenten to land on her fan

"Wow that girl's really ruthless," Naruto stated, nervousness graced his normal confident face.

"Wasn't much of a match, kind of boring," Temari stated as she looked at the unconscious Kunoichi.

"To be able to stop every one of Tenten's attacks, like that," Guy stated, shock apparent on his face.

"I still cannot believe it," Lee added on. I waited for something to happen, Hayate declared Temari the winner, and then the blonde tossed Tenten off her fan and straight towards her weapons that were still scattered about. Before anyone else could react, Lee had jumped down and managed to catch Tenten before she was seriously hurt.

"Nice catch," Temari commented. Lee set Tenten on the ground and raise his head, glaring at the Sand Kunoichi.

"What is wrong with you? She may have lost but that is no way to treat an opponent who has done her best," Lee berated Temari. She responded by slamming the end of her fan onto the ground.

"Oh beat it. And take that sack of garbage with you," Temari ordered. This angered Lee who charged at her despite Neji's cries. He used Leaf hurricane but Temari was able to block it. "Not even close. You know what, you're as dumb as you look," Temari insulted.

"What did you say?" Lee asked. However Guy got down then and told him to stop, Lee attempted to protest.

"Temari forget them, the match is over so get up here. You won, so why are you wasting your time with that pathetic loser and his ridiculous mentor," Gaara called out.

"What?" Lee questioned. Gaara's comment had quite obviously annoyed the ninja.

"Just calm down Lee. A word of warning, you Sand villagers have no idea what Lee is capable of. Remember he still hasn't fought yet… so I'd be careful if I were you," Guy warned.

Tension hung thick in the air, until Sakura revealed that she was awake and gave some words of advice to Naruto. The panel then began to shuffle the names again, I looked at it nervousness flowing through me, however it wasn't my match this time, instead it was Shikamaru against Kin, as the lazy boy was walking by, I grabbed a hold of his wrist.

"Be careful, none of us saw Kin's abilities but we can only assume that they're connect to sound, so be on your guard," I told the boy. He sighed and nodded before claiming this was a drag and he headed down to the battlefield, which had luckily been cleared of the weapons that Tenten left.

"Oh man this is such a drag. I mean give me a break, I've got to fight a girl," Shikamaru complained. Ino had got to her feet and was cheering Shikamaru on in an incredibly enthusiastic manner.

"Yeah, you just keep thinking that way little man," Kin responded. Hayate began the match.

"It's all I've got," Shikamaru stated. He prepared his Shadow Possession Jutsu, but Kin cut him off.

"You're not trying that stupid Shadow thing again, are you?" Kin questioned, in a ridiculing manner.

"Shut your mouth!" Shikamaru yelled at her. I was shocked that the boy expressed something other than annoyance or boredom. "Ninja Art – Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru declared. His shadow then began to move forward.

"This that all you know? If that's the only trick you've got then this battle's going to be easier than I thought," Kin insulted. She then dodge and threw senbon which had bells attached but Shikamaru had managed to dodge them, I wondered why she used senbon as they were needle like weapons that did little damage unless aimed at a vital point.

"Bells? Heh oh please, not that old trick. Let me guess next you'll throw senbon with bells and senbon without bells at the same time. I'll react to the bells and while I'm focused on dodging them, I won't notice the silent needle coming at me, am I right. Good luck," Shikamaru taunted. Kin then charged at him.

"You sure talk a lot don't you?" Kin retorted. She then threw her senbon at Shikamaru who dodge them.

"Now I know to dodge all the senbon. Not just the ones with the bells," Shikamaru continued on his analysis. However a bell suddenly tingled, it turned out that the bells had wires attached to them which Kin pulled on to distract Shikamaru, as she threw her senbon at him which he couldn't dodge as the bell trick had worked.

"Shikamaru!" Ino cried out.

"Well that didn't take long," Naruto dryly commented.

"Hold on, don't be so sure he's not beaten yet," Sakura added in. I looked down to see the boy getting to his feet.

"One inch higher and that would have been a fatal hit," Shikamaru stated, as he pulled out the needles in his arms. I raised an eyebrow at this, not many people could identify a fatal hit, unless they were a medical ninja or had a good quality understanding of the human body.

"Ok now I get a turn," Shikamaru retorted as he turned back to face Kin.

"Sorry that was your turn," Kin responded. She pulled on the bells again, then something seemed to happen to Shikamaru it was like he got disorientated.

"What the, what's going on?" Shikamaru asked. His voice showed worry and nervousness, he then suddenly collapsed to his knees.

"You see, you don't ever ask for whom the bell tolls, because it tolls for thee. This bell sends off a peculiar sound vibration that travels through the outer and inner ear and then directly to the brain. First comes paralysis and soon you'll start hallucinating," Kin explained her battling technique. Shikamaru clamped his hand over his ears but kin simply laughed at this.

"It won't work. You can't block the sound out once it's inside your head," kin revealed. I looked at the others around me. It seemed that Shikamaru was the one who was affected by Kin's bells.

"I can't tell which one of them is the real one," Shikamaru choked out. I furrowed my eyebrows, but concluded that Shikamaru was trapped in a Genjutsu which caused him to see multiple Kin's.

"You can't move your arms or legs. And even if you could you wouldn't know which one of us to throw your shadow at. Face it, you're cooked little man, I'm going to cook you nice and slow over a hot fire," Kin taunted.

"You think it's that easy?" Shikamaru questioned the Kunoichi. Kin threw senbon at the immobile boy, they struck into him piercing his skin.

"That was three, next time I'll throw five. Each time a couple more until you end up looking like a hedgehog," Kin explained. I rolled my eyes thinking that she reminded me of a cat playing with her food

"Stop playing games why don't you. If you're so tough, get it over with, stop wasting my time," Shikamaru told the girl. She simply smirked at him.

"I'm sorry, so you're not a fan of my slow and painful method. Fine suit yourself, we'll do it the quick way then… and painful," Kin taunted. She prepared her senbon, but then something happened. "Wh-what's going on? I can't move my arm," Kin cried out. The arm holding the senbon began to be forcibly lowered.

"Huh, looks like my lame shadow jutsu was a success after all," Shikamaru stated. I looked down and saw that the wire Kin was holding was somehow casting a shadow which it shouldn't have been able to do, considering the height that it was being held.

"But you haven't thrown any shadows. No way I made sure of it," Kin protested as she looked about.

"You really still down see it?" Shikamaru asked. I wondered if the girl would see it without anyone pointing it out to her.

"What do you mean?" Kin asked.

"Look at that wire you're holding, don't you find it strange that it would even cast a shadow at this height," Shikamaru explained. Then the shadow warped and changed into the shadow that linked Kin to Shikamaru. "Of course you didn't notice it, because you were too focused on other things. Like killing me," Shikamaru taunted.

"His shadow spreading out around me and I didn't even see if coming," kin realised and berated herself.

"Right, I stretched my shadow along the line of that thread and followed it all the way back, now I'm attached to you," Shikamaru informed the Kunoichi.

"And now. So, we mirror each other's movements, so what. A cute trick but what do you gain by it," Kin asked. This however annoyed the lazy boy.

"Man you're annoying. Shut up and watch," Shikamaru told the girl. He then reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a shuriken, Kin did the same.

"You must be insane. If you throw that shuriken at me, you'll just be attacking yourself," kin informed Shikamaru. I wondered that myself, it was obvious that Shikamaru wasn't the idiot everyone thought he was.

"Makes it kind of interesting, doesn't it?" Shikamaru asked as he prepared to throw the shuriken.

"You wouldn't, you couldn't," Kin protested, as she copied Shikamaru's movement

"Oh yeah. Like a game of chicken let's see who ducks first," Shikamaru declared as he threw the shuriken

"You're crazy!" Kin cried out, her shuriken also flying through the air. As the shuriken neared the ninjas, Shikamaru bent backwards easily dodging the shuriken. Kin went to do the same, however she was so far back that as she bent her head smashed against the wall, knocking her unconscious.

"And that's what I call using your head," Shikamaru stated. He then flipped himself back onto his feet. "The wise shinobi careful scouts the physical layout of the battlefield, and never loses sight of his position on it. That was your problem, I make sure she was so busy focusing on me, she didn't notice the wall inches behind her head. So when we both dodged backwards, kabomb! Now who's hearing bells?" Shikamaru explained.

He was declared the victor and I had to admit that I was impressed with Shikamaru's forethought. He had a keen strategic mind in hand, that made him a dangerous opponent and probably the most qualified to be Chūnin of those present. The panels then began to shuffle again and Naruto was chosen to fight against Kiba.


	12. Chapter 12

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 12: - Who's Top Dog Now

"I've been waiting forever for this. Sorry Kiba, don't take it personally if I blow you away," Naruto boasted to the boy. This boast, however, annoyed Kiba immensely.

"That's just what I was going to say, only not so politely. Right Akamaru?" Kiba retorted. His dog was tucked in his jacket, responded with a bark. I was worried about Naruto, with that seal Orochimaru had put on him – an odd number over an even number – it might have affected this chakra control.

"Oh yeah! Well talking's easy, lets' see what you've got to say at the end of the match," Naruto challenged

"Little squirt," Kiba growled out, as he put Akamaru on the floor. I wondered what Kiba's fighting style was like, it seemed everyone was different in this exam.

"Wait a second! Are you kidding me? What's the puppy doing here, he's just going to get in the way," Naruto protested.

"Deal with it I never go into battle without Akamaru," Kiba shot back. Akamaru then let out a bark at Naruto.

"Come on, isn't that against the rules or something?" Naruto questioned the proctor. Hayate confirmed that Akamaru was, in fact, within the rules as he considered a part of Kiba as much as Shino's bugs were a part of him. I found that analogy really strange.

"Whatever fine with me. I do my best work with a handicap," Naruto boasted. I was worried that Naruto's overconfidence might make him underestimate his opponent, like he had with me when we sparred, however that had ended in a tie and if Naruto wanted to proceed he would have to win.

"Ha! We'll just see about that," Kiba shot back. Although Kiba had the same problem as Naruto, overconfidence, however he was a lot more arrogant that Naruto was. "Akamaru you stay and leave all this to me. I've got it," Kiba told the canine. Akamaru seemed unnerved by this but complied with his orders.

"Go on Naruto, you can't lose to this jerk!" Sakura called out to the blonde. I was glad to see that the pinkette had regained her energy.

"Oh man Kiba's so lucky," Chōji complained. I was confused by this statement, if anything lucky would be fighting someone who was weak, and Naruto was far from weak.

"Why do you say that?" I questioned. Everyone looked at me confused, before Ino spoke up.

"Because Naruto was the weakest graduate at the academy," Ino responded. I narrowed my eyes causing the Ino and her team to flinch backwards.

"Only combat tell the of truth of shinobi's true ability. In class he might be weak but in battle he is strong," I stated. I then turned back to the battle which had not begun, yet.

"Look I feel sorry for you, so I'm going to finish you off with one shot, ok," Kiba stated. I grounded my teeth, I despised people like Kiba, those that thought of themselves higher than others and thus they underestimate those that seemed to be weaker.

"Yeah is that right. Man you're even dumber than you look if you think you can beat me," Naruto retorted.

"You sure talk tough for a little squirt," Kiba growled out. Hayate began the match and immediately Kiba squatted down and formed a hand sign, his chakra then began to roll off of him, his nail then sharpened into claws. "Here I come," Kiba stated. He then moved to fast for Naruto to stop him as Kiba managed to elbow him in the gut sending the blonde backwards.

"This little guy's going to be out for a while. You can call the match," Kiba told Hayate.

"Looks like you were wrong, in battle Naruto is still the weakest," Ino taunted. I looked at Sakura and Kakashi and all of us shared a smile, knowing that our hyperactive teammate would easily brush this off and come right back.

Naruto had bragged about Hokage even before I came along and in my mind he was truly a Kage at heart, someone who empathise with all people and bring them together. I don't how, I knew, I just did, and then true our belief Naruto began to rise to his feet.

"What! No way," Kiba cried out in shock. It seemed that everyone was shocked that Naruto was getting back up. Kiba seemed to be especially mortified by this as anger began to burn in his eyes.

"Don't ever, don't ever, underestimate me!" Naruto declared. I smiled at the boy's determination.

"Yeah!" Lee cried out. I could tell that he was also glad that the boy had risen to his feet.

"At a boy Naruto," Sakura cheered. I knew that she would repay Naruto's support in this battle.

"Yeah, yeah. More tough talk, look at yourself in a mirror, you're a mess," Kiba shot back at the blonde. However Naruto just brushed it off.

"I just wanted to see what you've got. Frankly you hit like an old lady," Naruto responded. I waited to see what would happen now that Kiba knew it wasn't going to be an easy match. "You have a better chance of winning this if you send that puppy in to fight with you," Naruto taunted. I sighed and hung my head, Naruto's overconfidence had probably given him a disadvantage as Kiba was use to fighting _**with**_ Akamaru.

"You're going to regret that," Kiba growled out. His face twisted with anger at Naruto's comment. "Come on Akamaru," Kiba told the canine as they charged for Naruto. Kiba pulled out two small balls from his scroll pouch and I saw that they were smoke bombs, Kiba threw them and both Naruto and Kiba were surrounded by smoke, whilst Akamaru remained outside.

I knew Naruto was in trouble, he wouldn't be able to seem inside the smokescreen, but Akamaru, despite not being in there, would be able to pick up Naruto's scent and he could guide Kiba right to Naruto. Sounds began to echo from within the smoke, they sounded like grunts of pain, then Naruto rushed out right into Akamaru who bit his arm forcing him back into the smokescreen.

The smoke then began to fade away as Kiba jumped out, when the smoke finally cleared away Akamaru sat next to a collapsed Naruto, wagging his tail. Akamaru then ran up to Kiba who cheered about winning he held out his hand but Akamaru went a bit him on the arm instead, this action shocked everyone who knew the duo.

"Surprise. Gotcha," Naruto voice called out from Akamaru. Then a puff of smoke surrounded Akamaru and when it faded in his place was Naruto.

"You used a transformation jutsu. You little- Get off!" Kiba cried out. Naruto let go of his arm and stepped back.

"You smell even worse than the dog," Naruto complained as he spat out, something from his mouth.

"What did you do with him? Where is he?" Kiba asked. He looked around searching for his companion, when another Naruto held up Akamaru in his hands.

"He's right here," Naruto called out. I smirked at Naruto use of the smokescreen to confuse Kiba

"How did you- ok," Kiba growled. The others were impressive and stunned at Naruto's skills, I smirked at this. Sakura called out to Naruto whilst I nodded in agreement.

"What do you know? Gotten a little stronger I see, but not nearly strong enough. Because now I'm getting serious," Kiba commented.

"Oh, well good. I've been hoping you would, because I want to serious knock you out," Naruto retorted. Kiba took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself down from his blind rage and reached into his scroll pouch and took something out.

"Naruto if I were you, I'd let Akamaru go," Kiba informed. He then threw what appeared to be a small, round, brown object at Akamaru, who ate it. Then Akamaru's fur turned a rusty red shade, he kicked the clone Naruto who disappeared and landed next to Kiba.

"What the heck happened? What was that thing you feed him? How come all his fur just turned red?" Naruto question. Kiba then ate the same thing, he then bent down and formed a hand sign whilst Akamaru jumped on his back.

I focused on what he ate and I realised what it was, a food pill. They were specially designed pills which restored one's chakra and nourished the body, however the devastating side effects – anxiety and exhaustion – were rather crippling, especially when in the heat of battle.

"Ninja Art – Beast Mimicry," Kiba growled out. A puff of smoke surrounded the two and when it faded Akamaru had changed into a clone of Kiba. "Man-Beast Clones," Kiba finished up. Naruto believed that Kiba had to be disqualified for eating a food pill, but Hayate explained that they were simply another ninja tool and thus allowed.

The two then attacked Naruto, but just before they hit Naruto was able to dodge out of the way. They then proceed to attack from all sides, Naruto could barely dodge their attacks and I knew with how exhausted he was, he couldn't hold off two attacks simultaneously and that unless he managed to confuse them somehow, Naruto would most likely lose.

At one point Naruto jumped into the air, however Kiba and Akamaru took the chance to attack and they began to rotate at such a high speed they became blurs. They slammed into Naruto sending him up into the air, he then crashed, face first, straight into the ground.

"I told you it was going to get serious," Kiba taunted. Naruto began to twitch as he pushed himself up.

"I will, I will be Hokage, I will," Naruto declared as he struggled to push up.

"And how you going to do that? By lying flat on your face, I got news for you, I'm going to be Hokage," Kiba declared. He then began to start laughing, I gritted my teeth at his declaration, Kiba didn't fit the title of Kage. "Come one do you really believe a weakling like you can be Hokage? You must be weak in the head," Kiba insulted. I bit my tongue to keep myself from shouting ta him but my grip on the rail became white knuckled.

'You're dead wrong. I don't know what Naruto's done before I arrived but he was that mind, strength and heart of a fox. Tricky to understand and unpredictable, fights to his last breath, caring and protective of his loved ones. If anyone is weak, it's you Kiba.' I thought in my mind. Then Naruto began to get up.

"Sorry but you can forget about being Hokage. Because I'm the top dog around here," Naruto told Kiba.

"You're kidding, you're a real glutton for punishment," Kiba snickered. They then began to rush at the blonde.

"How many times are you going to us that move?" Naruto asked in a taunting fashion as he recognising the attack pattern that they were using. The two began to use their high-speed spinning attack, known as Fang over Fang. Naruto smirked as he jumped into the air but his opponents were still able to hit him and force him back to the ground.

Naruto knelt up and then Kiba threw more smoke bombs trapping Naruto in the same old attack. The two then launched in using Fang over Fang to attack Naruto who couldn't defend himself properly.

None of us could see what was happening because of the smoke, then Kiba and Akamaru came out of the smoke, when it clear we saw Naruto still stood on his own two feet, although he was badly beaten and bruised.

"Ha looks like you've run out of gas kid," Kiba taunted. I watched the two fighters careful, waiting for the

"Yeah bring it on dog breath, because no matter how many clone of yourself you make, I'll still have enough gas to beat you," Naruto shot back. Kiba and Akamaru charged again using the smokescreen attack for a third time in conjunction with Fang over Fang.

"What's going on? I can see," Sakura stated as we watched on. However this time when the smoke began to fade I saw that there was a third silhouette of Kiba.

"Very clever," Kakashi commented. I nodded my head understanding Naruto's quick thinking and it was a very impressive plan. Sakura however was confused and didn't understand. "Wait you'll see," Kakashi told her. She looked back to match, confusion marring her face.

When the smoke faded away the three Kibas were facing off against each other, the real one was unsure of which one was Akamaru and which one was Naruto as he looked between them.

"Perfect! Good one Naruto. Brilliant!" Sakura complimented, realising Naruto's plan. Sakura and Lee detailed Naruto's plan, Kiba couldn't attack either without the risk of hurting Akamaru, whilst Naruto could attack either one of them.

"Ok, so I've see you've gotten better at the Transformation Jutsu, but you forgot one little thing. I admit you look a lot like me but and that threw me for a minute, but I still know which one is you. You can't hide from me, want to know why…," Kiba stated and trailed off. He then punched the one that was on left and he went flying back.

"I can smell you kid, there's just no getting passed our sense of smell. Tough luck," Kiba told him. The Kiba that was knocked down was surrounded by smoke, which –when it cleared – revealed that the Kiba was in fact Akamaru. Shocked and angry Kiba when whipped around and punched the other Kiba who also turned out to be Akamaru.

'Impressive instead of de-transforming, Naruto turned into Akamaru, confusing Kiba and making him take Akamaru personally.' I thought. The first one that Kiba punched stood up and transformed into Naruto, he then rushed at Kiba and sent a kick straight into his chest.

"The smart shinobi is careful how he uses his jutsu, otherwise it's liable to come back and bite him on the butt, dummy," Naruto told Kiba. I smirked wondering who he learnt that line from, of course this comment made Kiba angry and to keep himself calm he went and bit his hand causing blood to run down the back.

Kiba pulled out some shuriken and held them between his fingers, Naruto had to be careful now since Kiba's red haze had dissipated he would be able to think more clearly. Naruto had to think through his next move carefully… or make Kiba angry again.

"So are you finally getting serious Kiba? Good, that means it's time to unveil something special I've been saving. My super-secret killer move," Naruto said as he formed a hand sign. I wondered what the blonde meant by this.

"Your what? You got to be kidding me?" Kiba questioned. It seemed that everyone was confused by what he said. "Hah, 'super-secret killer move'. Get out of here it's a bluff!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Yeah? Well try me and find out," Naruto challenged. Kiba began to charge at Naruto and threw his shuriken the blonde, Naruto proceeded to dodge the spinning weapons. Kiba then proceeded to use his Beast Mimicry and charged at Naruto, he then smashed into Naruto with two punches which sent him to the floor.

"No Naruto!" Sakura cried out.

"Naruto!" I called out alongside Hinata. Kiba was attacking too quickly for Naruto to build his chakra, he to find a way to stop Kiba.

Kiba charged in for another attack and slammed back down to the floor, Kiba went in for another attack but instead of being knocked down, Naruto caught Kiba by forcing his opponent to sink his claws into his arm, Naruto then proceeded to throw Kiba over his shoulder. Kiba landed on his feet as he skidded back coming to a stop, his chakra began to ooze off of him.

"I will be Hokage, I will never lose to you or anyone here," Naruto declared as he formed the hand sign again.

"Dream on kid. How can you beat me when you can't keep up with me?" Kiba questioned. He charged at Kiba and jumped into the air and dived at Naruto, slashing him across the arm. "Hey kid, heads up," Kiba called out to Naruto as he launched for another attack. He slashed Naruto on the back forcing him to the ground.

Kiba taunted Naruto, who managed to climb back to his feet, refusing to give up. Naruto challenged Kiba, encouraging to attack him as Naruto began to build up his chakra. Kiba charged at Naruto and when behind him, he launched for an attack when all of a sudden Naruto… farted.

Kiba reeled back, clutching his nose, everyone else simply froze in shock at the unusual attack tactic. Naruto revealed that it wasn't planned, but hey it worked, Naruto returned to his jutsu and created four shadow clones.

"You've kicked me around pretty good so far, now it's payback time," Naruto declared. His clones surrounded Kiba who was still stunned from the fumes, one of the clones charged in and punched Kiba, then Naruto jumped off his back and into the air, his other three clones charged and kicked Kiba up into the air

"Na. Ru. To," The clones declared as they kicked Kiba. The real Naruto then lifted his leg up and slammed it into Kiba's face forcing the boy to go sailing back down to the ground.

"Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto declared. I chuckled realising that Naruto had used an improvised version of Sasuke's Lion's Barrage technique. The clones dissipated leaving only the real Naruto, Hayate checked on Kiba and declared that Naruto was the winner.

Naruto came back with a jar that contained healing ointment, he applied it to his wounds and they quickly healed. I realised it was his tailed beast and not the ointment causing such rapid healing.

The panel then began to shuffle through the opponents for the next match and it came up as Hinata and Neji Hyūga.


	13. Chapter 13

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one**

Chapter 13: - A Failure Stands Tall

The two Hyūgas stood across from each other the tension palpable in the air, I couldn't tell what Neji looked like as his back was towards me but Hinata looked… petrified, whilst her body didn't show it her eyes were anyone need to look at.

"I'd never thought that you and I would have to face each other, Hinata," Neji spoke, his tone calm.

"Nor I brother," Hinata responded. Her tone was also calm with a slight waver that almost went unnoticed.

"What'd she call him?" Sakura asked, her voice showing her surprised tone. Even Naruto and myself were surprised by this statement.

"Brother?! Those two are brother and sister?" Naruto exclaimed as he stared down at the two Hyūgas.

"They're both descended from the Hyūga clan, one of the most ancient and honourable families of the Hidden Leaf Village. Not actually brother and sister," Kakashi-sensei explained.

"Oh, ok, but they're related somehow, right?" Sakura questioned.

"Yes, in the way the branch of a great tree is related to its' trunk. Technically they're more like cousins," Kakashi answered. However Naruto was confused by this comparison.

"Yes. Hinata belongs to the family's main household, directly descended from the head of the clan, while Neji's family is just a side branch of the clan," Lee explained. I nodded agreeing with his statements as we turned back to the match.

"Still they're family and now they have to fight each other. I feel for them must be hard," Sakura stated.

"Yes but…," Lee began to respond but he trailed off. I looked at the Taijutsu fighter wondering what he had to say, Sakura prompted him to continue by asking.

"It may not be as hard as it seems, I have heard that for many generations there has been some bad blood between the two families," Lee finished. When asked why he couldn't give a defiant answer except that it was possibly related to their Kekkei Genkai.

"If what Lee says is true then it would explain why Hinata is afraid," I spoke up. Everyone turned to look at me before looking at Hinata.

"I done see it," Sakura spoke up. I turned to the pinkette and sighed through my nose before turning back to the stand-off.

"If you're looking at her body you won't, but her eyes show that she is afraid," I stated. Hayate then told the two of them to begin and immediately Neji repositioned his feet

"Before we do this, a word of advice. Hinata, listen to me, withdraw now. You know you were never meant to be a ninja, you're too kind and gentle, you seek harmony and avoid conflict, you allow yourself to be easily swayed by others," Neji ordered. I gritted my teeth, who did he think he was ordering someone to do something else.

"Admit it, you have no confidence, you feel inferior to everyone else here, it would have been better for you to simply remain a Genin but to register for the Chunin exams you need a team of three people. You never even wanted to take part in these exams but Shino and Kiba did and you couldn't bear to let your teammate down could you?" Neji insulted.

'If she's got you for family no wonder she feel inferior, you must insult and berate her.' I thought.

"No you're wrong, I wanted, I had to find out, I wanted to see if I could change," Hinata protested. I felt so sorry for this girl, for simply have a sweet soul she must have been thought of lesser than the rest of her family.

"Hinata you are the pampered offspring of the Hyūga's main branch, people cannot change no matter how hard they try. They can't run away from their true nature, a failure will always be a failure," Neji insulted. I felt a stab to my heart at his words, for I was trying to change what I was raised to be… but I wondered if that was impossible.

Neji continued to berate and insult Hinata, his insults only served to anger Naruto and I could understand he was beginning to get under my skin as well and that was an almost impossible task. Neji mentioned the Byakugan and Kakashi explained that it was a Dōjutsu much like Sasuke's Sharingan and that the Byakugan was believe to be the ancestor of the Sharingan and explained that by power of insight the Byakugan was stronger.

Neji activated his Dōjutsu and it was that this point that Hinata fear had become so powerful that it had begun to show through in her body movements, Neji picked up on these and elaborated as to what each of these actions meant. With each word that Neji spoke, I saw that Naruto's entire being was shaking with anger, his fists had a white knuckle grip on the ointment jar Hinata gave him whilst his teeth grated against one another.

"That does it!" Naruto's yell shattered the silent tension that had been building thanks to Neji. "Who gave you the right to tell her what she can and can't be? Go on Hinata show this guy he's wrong," Naruto told the girl. Her eyes were wide with surprise at this. "Hinata you just going to stand there and take that! Do something, you're driving me crazy!" Naruto added on.

"Naruto's right Hinata. You wanted to show your strength and now have the chance, to back down would be an insult to everything you believe in," I told the girl. Her eyes widened even more if that was possible, as if she couldn't understand why we had spoken up.

Hinata's head lowered and then it raised to meet Neji, her eyes were calm now and they no longer showed fear, the only showed pure determination. Neji tried to get her to forfeit but Hinata responded by performing hand signs and activating her Byakugan, she then assume a fighting position with her left leg extended and both legs bent at the knee, her left arm completely extend and her right arm pulled back to her side, with both being opened palms.

"Defend yourself, my brother," Hinata warned. Neji was annoyed by this turn of events but he assumed the same fighting stance as Hinata.

"Very well then," Neji responded

"Of course it is the Hyūga style. That is why they're poses are the same," Lee spoke up. This attracted our attention, I realised that it was the Gentle Fist fighting style, a technique that was used in tandem with the Byakugan.

"The Hyūga style?" Sakura questioned. I would have answered but that might have given away how vast my knowledge was… and not just on the Hyūga clan.

"It is the most effective type of Taijutsu found in our village. I have said it before, I have on my team the man who is probably the strongest Genin ever to come out of the Hidden Leaf Village. That man, Neji Hyūga," Lee stated. His body was shaking and I realised that this was the person he wanted to beat and that Neji mostly likely insulted him the same way he insulted Hinata.

The two charged at each other and Hinata launched the first strike but Neji was able to block it with his arm, a wave of chakra burst forth from the contact. They continued to throw strikes at each other with both of them effectively dodging or block every strike, the chakra continued to flow from the attacks. At one point Hinata manage to make a glancing blow to Neji's exposed side.

"Did she get him?" Sakura asked as we all looked on.

"No way she hardly touched him," Naruto answered. But I knew that a glancing blow could still be as fatal as a direct hit.

"Even so a glancing blow is enough. That is what makes the Hyūga clan the most formidable of fighters," Lee spoke up. Sakura asked what Lee meant but Guy began to explain.

"They're Taijutsu is a unique one, that has been passed down over generations. It's not the kind of Taijutsu Lee and I employ, we tend to concentrate on inflicting external damage we use crushing blows to raise contusions and break limbs, pounding our enemy," Guy explained. The two Hyūgas were gathering their breath as they looked for any openings to strike.

"The Hyūga way is to attack their opponent's internal organs and their chakra network through which the chakra flows. They're way is more subtle, maybe not as thrilling to watch but it gradually takes with devastating results," Guy continued on

"You see you can't build but your internal organs no matter how hard you training even the toughest ninja is vulnerable to this kind of attack," Kakashi finished explaining. The two then began to attack each other again the chakra waves flying off the strikes once again, Naruto cheered Hinata on but I saw Sakura was nervous.

"They attack the chakra network. These people are amazing," Sakura spoke. Naruto looked at her completely confused.

"Yeah you can say that again… what is the chakra network anyway?" Naruto asked. I looked at him stunned that he didn't know a simple basic fact.

"Is he really this dense?" I asked. Kakashi and Sakura sighed as if acknowledging that he was.

"Naruto, the chakra network is a complex system of circulatory canals that distribute chakra through the body, similar to the vascular system, veins and arteries that carry blood," I explained.

"I get it only these veins carry chakra not blood," Naruto realised.

"Basically, also the chakra network is heavily interwoven with our vital organs that they are almost one in the same. Thus when the network is attack so are these organs," I finished p.

"Wow Ami how did you get to be so smart?" Naruto wondered. Of course at this point Sakura yelled/asked how he was a Genin before hitting him. Sakura then asked how they knew where to strike as the network was invisible to the eye, Kakashi explained that the Byakugan could see the chakra network and that a small but intense burst of their chakra drilling into the opponent which was hwat directly afflicted the chakra network.

At this point it seemed like both Hyūgas had managed to land a direct blow onto each other. They remained stock still and we could see who had gotten who due to their close proximity. However Hinata let out a cough and blood followed soon after.

"So that's it, that's all there is to the main branch's power?" Neji questioned. Hinata refused to give in and push away Neji hand before going into attack but Neji stopped it and drove two of his fingers into her arm. Neji then pulled back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal that across her arm were multiple red dots.

"What, you mean, all this time you?" Hinata questioned, realising what Neji had done. Neji confirmed that he had been attacking her chakra points, as Naruto was confused Kakashi-sensei explained that along the chakra network there was 316 energy centres or chakra points, which when attacked directly they acted like vales which could restrict or increase how much chakra flowed throughout the body, allowing the Hyūgas to gain control of the flow of chakra in their opponents body.

Neji struck Hinata again which sent her flying backwards, he then began to talk down to her again, claiming he was out of her league and trying once again to get her to forfeit the match.

"I, I, I never… go back… on my word, because that to is my Nindō, my way of the ninja," Hinata spoke, as she struggle to rise to her feet. She eventually succeed and faced Neji, blood dripped from the corners of her mouth to her chin.

"I had no idea, Hinata's as tough as she is," Naruto stated. I looked at him, wondering if he realised that Hinata's words were the same as his.

"She is a lot like you," Lee stated. Sakura revealed that Hinata was always watching Naruto, which surprised the blonde. Hinata reactivated her Byakugan, which had be undone some time ago, however before either could attack Hinata clutched her chest as more blood dripped form her mouth.

'This is bad, her heart's taken a hit, if he hits her heart again she could die.' I thought as Neji looked prepared to attack Hinata. Naruto continued to cheer Hinata on and Hinata somehow found the strength to attack Neji despite being heavily injured.

'Naruto, he's her inspiration, someone who is just like her, considered a failure yet he fights on to prove everyone wrong. Hinata gets her strength from him.' I realised in my mind. The fight continued on but the chakra bursts were present any longer as Hinata's points were too restricted to allow proper chakra flow.

Hinata did her best but Neji continually avoided her blows and he at one point managed to thrust the heel of his palm into her chin send her backwards. Hinata began to cough as her heart caused her pain, after it passed she charged in again to attack.

I was stunned by her persistence, she wasn't giving up despite the fact that her heart was damaged and that her chakra points had been blocked. She went into strike but Neji beat her to it and hit her chest and I saw a large burst of chakra fly up from behind them and Hinata crumpled to the floor. Everyone looked on with different expressions, some uncaring, others worried, many shocked but I could tell Naruto was angry as was I.

"You just don't get it do you? Your strikes were ineffective with the very start, you're finished," Neji told the younger Hyūga, who lay completely still on the floor.

"It's too bad, but after that blow to the heart, Hinata is done," Guy stated. I had to agree her heart would only cause her pain the longer she delayed medical treatment and the longer it was delayed to more likely her heart would be permanently damaged. At this point Naruto's grip on the ointment jar tightened so much that cracks appears on the surface.

As Hayate was about to declare Neji the winner, Naruto refused to believe it and encouraged Hinata to continue fighting and then Hinata surprised all of us by beginning to raise her body off the ground. She managed to stand to her feet, her body shaking and her breathing was laboured but she was still standing.

"What do you think you're doing? If you continue to fight you're going to die," Neji informed the girl. Hinata raised her head, the fire still burning within her eyes.

"I'm far from finished," Hinata told Neji.

"Give up the tough girl act, I can tell you're barely standing. You've been carrying a very heavy burden, being born into the main branch of the Hyūga clan and you've cursed and blamed yourself for being weak, but look, people can't change the way they are that's just how it is, just accept defeat and you won't have to suffer anymore," Neji insisted but Hinata refused.

"No you're wrong brother you've got it backwards. You see I can tell, that you're the one, you're suffering much more than I," Hinata informed the boy.

"I'm what?" Neji questioned.

"You're the one who's all torn up, about the fate of the main and side branches of the Hyūga clan," Hinata answered. This seemed to anger him as he charged forward.

I realised that he was going in for a fatal attack and was about to launch myself forward when a hand stopped me, as four Jōnin surrounded Neji. Hayate held his fingers out to his forhead, Kakashi-sensei held his outstretched arm, Guy had an arm around his neck and a female Jōnin held his other arm.

"Neji get a hold of yourself! You promised me you wouldn't let this whole head family thing get you riled up," Guy ordered his student.

"Why are you and the other Jōnin butting in? The head family gets special treatment huh?" Neji questioned. Hinata then collapsed to her knees and began to cough, upon this I shook of Lee's hand and jumped down, swiftly followed by my teammates and Lee, we rushed over to the Hyūga girl.

Me and Naruto knelt down beside her as she was lead on the floor, Naruto began to speak to her but I was checking her pulse, it was erratic showing that her heart was struggling to beat. I noticed that the girl had blackout whilst she tried to talk to Naruto.

Neji then called out to the blonde and told him to quit cheering and that once a failure always a failure. Naruto then charged at Neji but Lee stopped him, telling him to wait as rules stated the fighting had to be done in a match but that he understand where Naruto was coming from and Naruto, begrudgingly, back down.

Hinata then coughed up more blood, the female Jōnin who had stayed with me, quickly unzipped her jacket and then checked her pulse with her hands. I also checked her pulse and we both realised that Hinata was going into cardiac arrest.

Medical-nin rushed in to help her and she was taken to the infirmary when they realised she had no pulse. Naruto rushed over and I could tell he was shocked and also a little worried for the girl, he then bent down and touched his fingers to Hinata's blood before turned and holding out those same fingers curled into a fist at Neji.

"Hinata I give you my word, I vow to win!" Naruto declared. I agreed, he had attempted to kill an innocent girl and that had pushed my buttons enough to make me extremely angry, angry enough to want to kill the Hyūga boy, myself.


	14. Chapter 14

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter but there wasn't much I was able to do.**

Chapter 14: - Beware the Doll-like Appearance

"Alright we will now decide the next match," Hayate spoke. I glanced at the panel as it began to shuffle through the names for the third to last match. There was only me, Lee, Gaara, Dosu and that other guy from Kabuto's team left, in all my strength I prayed that I wouldn't have to go up against Lee or Gaara.

Lee was praying to be picked next whilst all the others weren't overly bothered with this. The panel stopped and it displayed my name along with the name of the guy who I presumed was Kabuto's teammate, Ai.

"Alright Ami go get him," Naruto yelled. I covered my ears and shot a glare at the blonde.

"At least cheer for me when I'm not right next to you will you," I grumbled. Naruto flashed a smiled at me. I rolled my eyes before I shook my head and hopped over the rail to face my opponent. He was dressed in the same way as his companions, his appearance was greatly concealed by the mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck and forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, navy-blue shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, pants, sandals and fingerless gloves.

"Is this a joke?" He asked once he got a look at me, before he burst out laughing for some reason. I gritted my teeth but remained calm, wondering if I could get him to die of laughter and not be forced to fight such a weakling. "Boy, girl you must be the weakest member of your team, I better you only survived because they protect you night and day, little doll," He taunted. However his statement caused rage to blaze inside of me.

"What. Did. You. Just. Call me?" I hissed out. He looked at me a smug look shone in his eyes, I clenched my fists, my grip turning the knuckles a pale white shade.

"I said you're a doll, girly. This'll be an easy match," He smugly stated. He then began to run at me, but instead of preparing to dodge I remained still. He raised his fist and went to punch me however, I snapped my hand out and caught the fist pulling in towards me as I rotated my wrist clockwise, to prevent any damage.

"What was that?" I mockingly asked. His eyes shot up to me in shock, I then slammed my free fist into his stomach and pushed him back at the same time. The force sent him skidding back across the stone floor as he struggled to regain his balance.

"What the!?" He yelled. I repositioned my legs so my stance was shoulder width apart.

"You thought I was weak, but the problem, my appearance is rather… deceiving," I told him with a smirk on my face. He glared at me before charging at me again, this time instead of blocking his attack, I merely spun out of the way causing him to stagger as his momentum made him stumble when he tried to stop.

"Fight me you little bitch!" he snarled. I raised an eyebrow at his demand, before turning my back to him and walking over to my original position.

"Why should I fight someone so pathetic," I responded. He yelled at me and charged. I spun around and lifted on of my legs up to block his kick, I then hooked my leg around and I was able to force him away from me to the side.

He stood up and glared at me once more, then a strange purple smoke began to billow out from under his mask. I furrowed my eyebrows as I bent my legs for fast reactions to his next attack.

"You're dead meat girl. No one can survive my jutsu," Ai informed me. I didn't respond as I watched the smoke curl and twist around the air spreading out, I glanced only to see that Ai had moved, then suddenly I felt something lock around my neck and my arms were also seized, as the purple smoke began to surround me.

Ai laughed and more smoke began to billow out, it invaded my senses, a strange salt air was present along with a sour smell and I realised then that the smoke was poison. I jumped a little and I was able to curve my body up so that my legs landed around his neck I hooked my ankles together and I began to pull, he struggled against my grip but I was able to twist my arms out of his grasp and I planted my feet against his back and I used them to push away from him, I landed on the ground a little shaky as poison was beginning to take effect.

"Wow that's incredible," I heard Naruto exclaim in shock.

"It is also extremely odd," Lee stated. I could only guess that my teammates had questioned him due to what he said next. "Ami is able to perfectly counter his attack without even looking also she appears to be rather flexible as that grapple is awfully difficult to get out of and her method was rather elaborate and tricky to accomplish," Lee informed them.

"So, what does it matter?" Sakura asked, confused by what Lee meant.

"Sakura, it is rather obvious that Ami is far stronger than any of us believed," Kakashi stated. The man turned around to me and chuckled as the smoke continued to wrap around the fighting area.

"You've inhaled the poison girl, you're time is almost up and the longer you exert yourself the quicker it spreads," He taunted.

"I know how poison works, idiot," I muttered. The man glared and he charged at me, I dodged the attack and stepped away from him. "You know the least you could do is make this fight interesting," I bluntly stated.

"You've got poison coursing through your veins and you want interesting!?" The man exclaimed in shock.

"Most people who use poison are cowards, too afraid to fight their opponents head on and try to cripple them to make the fight easier. There are very few who can use poison in a way that isn't cowardly," I stated.

The man growled and he sent a kick out, I seized his ankle and threw him backwards. I then ran forward before flipping back and kicking him in the chin sending him flying backwards.

"You trying to die?" He hissed at me.

"I don't die easily," I retorted, "And besides, I'm still waiting for this to become interesting," I stated.

"Um is Ami ok, she's acting pretty weird," Naruto asked

"I don't think so Naruto. When you and Sasuke were unconscious I think I saw more of Ami's abilities than anyone else, she was pretty powerful even tired and beat up. I think that she doesn't view this man as a challenge and is bored," Sakura stated.

Sakura was right, my abilities were beyond the scope of any of the other candidate and thus finding a worthy opponent was always hard work. I could almost hear my teacher whispering words of praise and manipulation into my ear, it sent a shiver down my spine as I thought of that.

"Give up, with that poison you've only got three minutes left," Ai stated, attempting to scare. I just snorted at that fact.

"One, that's more than enough time to beat you. Two, what makes you think I care about my life?" I stated. Silence flushed through the room at my statement.

"Wh… what are you?!" Ai exclaimed. I looked at him my gaze melting into solid ice.

"I gave you enough chance, it time to end this," I stated, before charging at him. I moved at a faster pace than I had for this entire match.

"Wow Ami's fast!" Naruto exclaimed.

"She's not just fast, she's Jōnin fast," Sakura stated. I appeared in front of Ai and seized his collar, I lifted him up easily, he struggled in my grasp however it was iron clad and he was unable to break it.

I threw Ai over my head and sent him flying towards the wall, I ran after him and jumped into the air before bringing my foot down onto his abdomen which gave extra force to the momentum that he still had from my throw. Ai was sent slamming into the meeting point of the wall and the floor and a loud slamming sound echo as his body made contact.

"The match is over," I stated. I began to wall to the exit, I needed to flush out the poison in my body before it crippled my ability to fight permanently, I could feel the eyes of everyone on me as I left.

I stepped into the rest room and began to root through my pouch, I found what I was looking for and pulled it out. It was a small, brown, clay jar, twisting the top off, I opened it to reveal a bundle of evergreen leaves tied together with a black cord.

I pulled the bundle out and I removed one of the leaves, the texture was rough one way and smooth in the other, it smelled foul but it was exactly what I need. I bite into the leaf and torn off a piece and began to chew the bitter flavour flooding my mouth as I swallowed it down.

The leaf held a special chemical that was able to counteract all chakra based poisons which was exactly what that poison was. I heard the door open, I seized a kunai and I turned to see Temari standing behind me.

"What do you want?" I asked the blonde. She sighed and walked towards me but I grabbed my pouch and jumped back.

"I'm not going to attack you, I actually wanted to know if you were alive or not," Temari stated. I let out a mirthless laugh at her statement.

"Sure, like you even care," I stated. I continued to eat the leaf but I noticed that Temari was scowling at my comment.

"I do. But I want to know why you're here?" Temari demanded an answer. I finished the leaf which left a greenish-black stain on my fingertips. I looked at the girl with a hard expression in my eyes.

"That's my business Temari, but you should be more concerned with your brother," I told her.

"Ever since-" Temari began to yell but I clamped a hand over her mouth and pointed the kunai that was still in my hand at her throat.

"I'd be quite about my past if I were you Temari, after all we don't want any _accidents _to happen," I threatened my voice lowering into a deadly whisper. Her eyes widened in shock and fear at my threat.

I pushed her away and washed my hand before heading back into the main room, I glared at the floor as I walked, my past was catching up to me in more ways than one and it seemed like I would be unable to run from it this time around.

I could only hope that whatever happened nobody would know who I was by the end of this, otherwise something unfortunate would have to happen and I would have to start moving all over again, sometimes I wondered if I would ever be able to stop running from my demons.


	15. Chapter 15

**Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter but there wasn't much I was able to do.**

Chapter 15: - A Truly Splendid Ninja

I arrived back in the main room and headed up to the balcony that my team was on, as I got closer to them I lifted my head up and put my fake smile back on. Only for it to slip right off when I saw Lee doing some sort exercises and was really happy about something.

"You're chipper," I stated, catching everyone's attention. Lee looked at me a bright smile on his face.

"I am going to be fighting next Ami," Lee informed me. I nodded and looked down to see if his opponent was in the ring when my face pale as my sapphire blue eyes locked with aquamarine eyes. Lee was going passed me when my hand snapped out and grabbed Lee's wrist.

"Please, be careful. He's unlike anyone you have ever faced before, so please Lee, _be very careful_," I pleaded with Lee. He looked at me unsure, for moment, before he sent a smile and a thumbs up, before tearing out of my grip and jumping over the rail.

"Ami is everything ok?" Sakura gently asked. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat before looked at my teammate, worry swirled in her green eyes.

"We'll see," I responded hoarsely, as I turned my attention to the match. Lee assumed the same stance he did against Sasuke, suddenly something was thrown at him and he caught it.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Lee questioned, as he let the object fall to the floor, I saw that it was the plug for Gaara's gourd. The tension in the room thickened heavily before Hayate declared to start the match, Lee charged forward and attempted to use his Leaf Hurricane but a wall of sand shot up preventing the attack from hitting Lee.

Lee landed on his feet but had to quickly dodge out of the way as the sand lashed out at him. He landed and skidded back a few feet, as the sand retreated into the gourd.

"What is that?" I heard Ino ask.

"It's sand," Sakura answered her rival, shock evident on her face.

"That… that nightmare, not again," I heard Shino's voice whispered. My eyes darted over to the bug user in surprise that he had seen Gaara fight… and lived to tell the tale.

Lee went in for another attack, launching as series of powerful kicks and punches at his target, however not of them were fast enough to break through the sand barrier that continually rose to protect Gaara. The sand then went in to strike Lee, but he saw it and pulled out a kunai slashing through the sand attacks, dissipating them before they struck.

He launched another kick but it was blocked once more and then Lee had to quick dodge when the sand gathered together and went to attack him. Lee successfully avoided the attacks and threw shuriken at Gaara but they were also blocked.

"Even as fast as he is, Lee can't get anywhere close to him," Sakura stated. I nodded my head, I could tell that Lee was becoming agitated by not being able to hit Gaara.

"Well is that all?" Gaara questioned, his voice drawing everyone's attention, "I hope you haven't finished _entertaining me_. We haven't had enough _blood_," Gaara added on. The sand that lunged at Lee, he jumped into the air but this time the sand caught him and flung him around before throwing him into the wall behind Gaara.

He managed to pull himself up but had to quickly roll out of the way to avoid the sand, he then charged and attempted to strike Gaara again, not seeming to realise that the sand was constantly protecting him, not matter what.

"I don't get it, he's only using Taijutsu. Can't he see that's never going to work?" Sakura questioned, as Lee unleashed another barrage of fruitless attack. "Why doesn't he get some distance and use Ninjutsu?" Sakura continued asking.

"Yes, that might be a good idea, that is if he had any," Guy stated, catching our attention. "Lee has no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills at all," Guy revealed. Shock rushed through me as I looked back at the boy.

'So he's just like brother.' I thought. Lee continued to unleash his attacks, refusing to give up, I heard Guy and Sakura continue talking but their words didn't register, my attention was solely focused on the fighting below me. The sand lunged at Lee once more forcing the boy to flip backwards to avoid it, however the sand got slightly ahead of him and his foot landed on it causing him to slip and fall. The sand began to descend of the fallen ninja and completely buried him… until I looked up and saw his form spiralling through the air and landed on the hand sign monument behind him.

Guy stated that Lee was a winner because of his Taijutsu-specialised skills, he then order Lee to take 'them' off, which confused both me and Sakura, Lee was unsure until Guy told him it was fine. Lee removed the orange leg warmers he had on to reveal that strapped to his legs were weights.

I was confused, leg weights were basic training equipment, how was removing them going to help Lee. I got my answer the second they hit the floor causing a short earthquake and leaving behind two **massive craters**. I think everyone was shocked by this event, but what shocked me more was that Lee's speed had increased so drastically that he could almost match me at my fastest speed when I was augmented.

This drastically increased speed helped Lee to be able to break down the walls of sand, as quickly as they formed, in fact the sand _couldn't _keep up with Lee's speed. Guy explained that when he realised Lee had no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu abilities they focused on Taijutsu only and now Guy claimed he was the world's greatest Taijutsu specialist, I couldn't hold in the snort that came out, attracting my teammates' and Guy's attention.

"I mean no disrespect to Lee for I can see that he is a truly splendid ninja, but he's not the best, my brother is. Lee is good but my brother is better," I stated. I could see that Guy was sceptical but we focused all on attention on the match, just in time to see Lee actually hit Gaara for the first time, by kicking him in the face and cutting his cheek.

Everyone was shocked by what happened, Lee went in against and Gaara began to fight back, but Lee was able to get through the sand again and landed a punch to Gaara's face, sending him to the ground. Gaara rose to his feet, the sand spilling rapidly out of the gourd, his head was bowed but I could see something falling off of Gaara's face, suddenly a strange feeling crept up my spine and my hands clenched the railing tight.

'This isn't good, this feeling, it's must like _**that**_ night.' I realised, worry coursing through me. Gaara raised his head to reveal that it was covered with sand that was crumbling and falling away, a mad glint shone in his eyes and a wild smile adorned his face.

"It's like a shell made of sand," Kakashi-sensei stated. Sakura was terrified I could tell that from the air alone, the fear was palpable in the air… along with blood-lust. The sand rose from the ground and began to form itself to fit on Gaara and making him a new set of Sand Armour.

"Well is that all?" Gaara asked. Lee remained still for a moment, as he analysed the best tactic to fight Gaara with, he then began to unwrap his arm bandages, I raised an eyebrow wondering if the Primary Lotus would work against Gaara. Lee then began to run around Gaara at such a fast pace that it was leaving a trail of dust behind.

Lee then slammed his foot into Gaara, getting him partially in the air, but unlike Sasuke and Dosu he didn't float, meaning that Lee had to swiftly slam him with multiple kicks to get him high enough. The sand attempted to follow them but it couldn't keep up with Lee as they just went higher and higher, almost approaching the ceiling.

I saw that Lee flinched at one point before he wrapped his bandages around Gaara and began to spiral them back down to the floor, they slammed into the ground, creating another crater and raising a huge dust cloud. Lee landed on the edge of both, breathing heavily but otherwise unharmed, whilst Gaara had cracks coursing all across his body.

Everyone was cheering but the feeling didn't fade away and I knew that it wasn't over just yet. I was proven right, when only seconds later, the Gaara that had been attacked began to crack and fall apart, and turned into sand.

"What the?!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, as the dust cleared. "An empty shell!" Sakura continued

"When did he do it?" Guy asked, confused as to when it could have happened.

"It was when you closed your eyes to pray. At that moment Lee closed his eyes too, because of the pain. That's when he did it," Kakashi explained. Sand rose up from behind Lee, falling away to reveal the red-haired sand ninja, he formed a hand sign and the sand surged upwards before arcing down towards Lee, it slammed into him forcing him backwards.

I saw that Lee's legs were shaking and I realised that the Lotus must have had some effect on his muscles as he was unable to properly dodge the sand, especially when it attacked him again, in the form of a tidal wave.

"I don't get it! What's Lee doing just standing there? With his speed, he should be easily able to get out of the way of those blasts, why doesn't he dodge them?" Sakura questioned. I glanced at Guy wondering if my theory was correct.

"For a very simple reason. He can't dodge them," Guy stated. However this just confused Sakura even more

"The Lotus is what you might call a double edged sword. You know it's a forbidden technique, why do you think that is? The Lotus isn't Ninjutsu or Genjutsu it's Taijutsu, requiring extreme physical effort, the strain it puts on the body is unimaginable no one can sustain it for long. Right now Lee is in so much pain he can hardly move at all," Kakashi-sensei explained to us. "Isn't that right Guy?" Kakashi questioning the other sensei.

"But... but that means," Sakura began to says.

"He's doomed," I finished. The sand had pulled back, revealing a small alcove with Lee holding out his hands, having obviously used them to protect himself, the sand then went in for another attack and lee was barely able to dodge out of the way.

"No Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Sakura stated, to nobody in particular.

"All he's got is Taijutsu and not much of that," Ino continued on

"There's no way he can win this," Chōji stated.

"Win? He'll be lucky to survive," Shikamaru spoke up.

The continued to pound into Lee, relentlessly drawing, cries of pain from the young boy, as I watched I couldn't help but be drawn into one of my memories.

_***Naruto* **_

_The morning mist still lingered even as late into the day as it was, the sun barely able to cut through the thick fog. I dipped the bucket into the cold water in front of me, I barely registered the stinging sensation of the frigid water. After pulling the bucket out of the water, I turned to my companion. _

_He was going through a kata, seemingly lost in the fluid movements but he was alert to everything around. _

"_Nii-san," I called out to him. He stopped in the middle of his kick and lowered it to the ground before turning to me. _

"_Yes Ami?" He responded. _

"_Why can't I bet you, all you use is Taijutsu whilst I can use everything?" I asked in my innocent naïve mind. My brother smiled his green eyes sparkling with the kindness he so rarely showed to others unless it was Otōsan. _

"_Ami, just because you can use all of a ninjas abilities does not make you the strongest, even with just Taijutsu you can be powerful, so long as you find your strengths and build on those whilst making sure that your weaknesses aren't detrimental," Brother explained. I smiled at him and he ruffled my hair before we began to head back _

_***Naruto* **_

Another sand attack was launched at lee and it sent him flying backwards, Lee struggled to his feet but he kept his arms in front of him to protect himself from the attacks, however Gaara simply laughed.

"What good do you think that'll do?" Gaara questioned. I watched as Lee was flung back and pounded into the ground by the sand once more, I felt tears prickled at the corners of my eyes, Lee who was stubborn, determined, brave and kind, he reminded me of my brother that it was painful for me to watch him be attacked like this.

"He can't go on, make him quit before he gets himself killed!" Sakura cried out. I pulls the tears back refusing to let them fall, the sand went in for another strike but Lee was able to use his speed and dodge out the way. "Lee smiling, he's running for his life but he's still smiling!" Sakura exclaimed in shock.

"Yes, but now it's Gaara's turn to run. The Leaf Village Lotus blooms twice," Guy stated. That triggered the memory of Lee in the Forest of Death and what he promised Sakura, however this disturbed Kakashi-sensei who forced Guy to reveal that Lee could open the Eight Inner Gates.

"What?!" I cried out in shock, knowing the power that the Gates held. Guy stated that Lee could open five of the Gates, but that didn't lessen my worry one bit, Sakura asked what the gates where, so Guy answered.

"The Eight Gates are like valves or chakra limiters that must be opened, if one is to release the Hidden Lotus," Guy explained. However Sakura was still confused, I saw Kakashi-sensei had lifted up his head band which always covered his left eye and know I knew why, embedded in the eye was a Sharingan.

"There are gates along the Chakra Network located at were the chakra is most heavily concentrated, starting at the head they are the Gate of Opening, Gate of Rest, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Closing, Gate of Joy, Gate of Shock and Gate of Death. These are what are called the Eight Inner Gates, their purpose is to limit the flow of chakra through the body but the Lotus exerts tremendous pressure on these limiters, eventually forcing the gates open this releases the restrains on the chakra, the result being that a person's strength can be increased ten-fold or more," Kakashi explained.

Guy continued on saying that the Primary Lotus only opened the First Gate, whilst the Hidden Lotus opened the Second and Third Gates. Sakura realised that only the Primary made it so that Lee could hardly move and Kakashi revealed even if by opening all Eight Gates and gaining power beyond a Kage, the price to pay was death.

Suddenly chakra became tangible around Lee, it was so powerful that I could actually see it and the pressure this chakra exerted was so powerful that it caused the ground underneath to crack, and Lee's face became a pale red colour with veins visible on his face.

Lee then charged at Gaara, shattered the ground and causing smoke to rise whilst also sending out a shockwave. I threw my arms up to protect my face, but I was stunned by what had happened. Once we could see, everyone realised that both Lee and Gaara had vanished, looking upwards I saw Gaara coming out of the dust cloud, his armour cracking and floating in mid-air.

The sand slowly rose to protect Gaara, however Lee swiftly punched him which sent him flying through the air before punching him again and eventually Gaara was being punched or kicked, left, right and centre, with Lee moving too fast for me to be able to see.

"His muscles are tearing themselves apart," Kakashi stated. I watched as Lee dealt a fierce blow to Gaara sending him flying straight to the ground but Lee caught a hold of the white cloth he wore with his bandages. Gaara sand practically crawled at a snail's pace to reach him.

Lee then pulled the sand ninja towards him and dealt another blow, sending Gaara flying down and sending up a thick cloud of dust along with another shockwave. I had to raise my arms once more to protect myself, when the dust settled, Gaara was falling to the ground however sand began to spill from the gourd.

Both boys impacted onto the ground, Gaara sent up another cloud of dust whilst Lee rolled over the floor completely still. When the dust around Gaara settled, we saw that he was fine, completely protected by a bedding of sand, Gaara shakily raised his arm and the sand rushed towards the crippled Lee who tried to crawl away but it was impossible due to the damage to his muscles.

I watched in fear as the sand latched on to Lee's left arm and leg, Gaara then closed his fist and the sand crushed the limbs it held, Lee cried out in pain and was sent flying back across the floor and was completely unmoving. I saw the sand crawling towards Lee ready to finish it off. Moving before anyone could stop me, I jumped down in front of Lee and placed myself in the sand's path, however someone appeared in front of me, when the sand dissipated, and I looked up to see Guy in front of me

"But why, he failed, why save him?" I heard Gaara question. I looked at the ninja before me, panic surging through me at his wounds as the crimson life giving fluid spilled from his leg.

"Because he's my student and because he's precious to me," Guy stated. This confused Temari greatly, I looked up to see Gaara walking away, declaring that he quits, however Lee had already lost the match. I saw movement out of my vision and I looked up in sheer shock to see that Lee was standing ready to fight.

"No Lee it's alright," Guy said as he walked up to his student, I stepped aside to let him through. "It's all over now, anyway you're in no condition to…," Guy began to console but stopped as Lee's head rose and we both realised the same thing. "Lee," Guy choked out and he began to cry, as we stared at Lee's blank eyes showing that he was completely and utterly unconscious.

I turned away refusing to intrude on the teacher and student moment but my eyes meet Gaara's, he glared at me. I turned around to see Guy placing Lee on the floor, I knelt down beside him, followed by the proctor and I glance up to see Naruto running towards us.

We all cleared out of the way so that the medics could attend to him, I clenched and unclench my hands unable to do anything with them, until I had a grip on something solid. One of the medics called Guy over and I could only assume it was to talk in private about his condition, leaving me and Naruto alone.

"Ami?" Naruto asked.

"He reminds me of my Nii-san, I had to protect him," I explained. Naruto nodded, I looked at the blonde and we remained still with our minds preoccupied with thought of our fellow ninja.

I looked up when I heard the head medic telling Guy, Lee's condition, it was bad so bad in fact that Lee's days as a ninja… were over. The medics lifted him up and began to carry him out of the room, I saw Naruto shaking and so I did the only thing I could think off, I reach out and held onto his hand.

Naruto began to yell as Lee was carted out, pulling his hand from my grasp, Kakashi-sensei stepped in and talk him down. We left the floor so that the final match between Dosu and Chōji could begin, I didn't pay much attention as I was still struck by what had happened to Lee, all I knew is that Chōji attempted to flatten Dosu with his Human Boulder jutsu but it backfired and Dosu was able to win.

The preliminaries had finished and all the winners were called down to the floor, we were congratulated on winning, the Hokage then began to inform us of the final round.

"In the final round each of you will put your battle skills on display, you'll demonstrate the power and control you've achieved in your respected disciplines. Accordingly the final battles will take place one month from now," The Hokage stated.

"Wait we're not going to doing it right here and now?" Naruto questioned.

"This is to provide a suitable period of preparation," The Hokage responded.

"What do you mean by that?" Neji asked.

"Simply this, in addition to announcing the conclusion of the preliminary matches to each countries' leaders, we must also have some time to prepare and distribute the summons to the final selection, not to mention that you examinees are going to need some time to prepare for something this important," The Hokage explained.

"Look I don't really get what you're trying to say," Kankurō stated. The Hokage explained that since we had just seem each other fight we would need time to train and prepare for the final battle. I saw in Naruto's eyes that he was fiercely determined to do his best in the next match.

Anko approached us with a box holding slips of paper, as she went along we each removed a single piece, on the slip of paper I pulled out was a number. Ibiki then told us to call out our numbers

"I've got eight," Dosu stated

"Number one of course," Naruto continued.

"Ten," I stated.

"Seven," Temari followed.

"Five," Kankurō continued.

"Three," Gaara called out.

"Nine," Shikamaru followed.

"Two," Neji continued.

"Six," Shino finished.

"And that means Sasuke will be number four," Ibiki stated as he continued to write something down on the pad he held. Ibiki revealed that the pad he held was the match-ups for the final round and that it was to work like a tournament. The matches were Naruto vs. Neji, Gaara vs. Sasuke, Kankurō vs. Shino, Temari vs. Dosu and Shikamru vs. Me.

'It appears that those of the last three matches will have to fight each other to determine who moves on.' I realised. After Shikamaru questioned the Hokage about who would become Chūnin, he revealed that it was a test of skill not who won, everyone could become a Chūnin or no one would, we were then dismissed.

I walked out ready to leave, when I felt a hand land on my shoulder, I turned to see Naruto and Sakura behind me. There was a strange look in their eyes, which put me on edge.

"Ami, what you said in your match that you didn't care about your life, what did you mean by that?" Sakura shyly asked, as if she was scared of what I would do.

"I mean I have nothing to live for," I responded. This earned a shock look from Sakura and a confused one from Naruto.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. I sighed and looked down.

"I mean that I have no family, no friends, no dream, no purpose keeping me alive, I have nothing," I stated. They're faces reflected the shock, I then turned and walked away from them, hoping to get some rest before doing anything else.


End file.
